When Exposés Attack
by Shirley Ann Burton
Summary: When SensaNews star reporter Duke Paparazzo does a phoney exposé on Angie, he finds himself in danger. Please r & r.
1. Daring Rescue Leads to Trouble

When Exposés Attack (Part 1)

When Exposés Attack 

By: [Shirley Ann Burton][1]

**The Annoying, but Vital, Disclaimer:**   
** _The Magician_, and all other related material, are copyrighted by Gaumont Multimédia. Angela Jacobs, Ashley Brighton, Rhonda Whittington, Rita Wisland, Jeff Sullers, Kendra Rayler, Miles and Nadine Sawyers, Kelly Wilders, and Carrie Jones are my original characters. If you want to use any of them in future stories of your own, please ask me first. After reading this, it is hopeful to have a better understanding about the ethics of news journalism.**

Part 1: Daring Rescue Leads to Trouble 

It was a warm and sunny day in Electro City, and many of its residents opted to cool off at the beach along the shores of the bay. Among the beachcombers were a group of special people who took a much-needed vacation after doing nearly two months of practice without a break.   
Sitting on the sand underneath a beach umbrella was a gentleman about six feet tall. With blue eyes and black hair, except for a white streak on the sides and around the back and a small tuft on top of his head, he breathed in the fresh sea air. "Ah, this is so comfortable," he whispered to himself. "Angie was right. I needed to get away from doing so many shows for a long time."   
He recalled a conversation he and training magician Angela Jacobs had a week prior to this holiday. 

_"Ace, you've been working way too hard," she had told him straightly. "If you keep pushing yourself like this you'll have a nervous breakdown."_   
_ "I can't help it," he said with a sigh. "I mean, I have to keep topping myself with more tricks to entertain the audiences."_   
_ "I know that. However, as long as I am your kindred sister, I also want to make sure your health is not being affected. As soon as we get through this last week of performances, we are all going to take a much needed break and go to the beach to relax. When we do go, you are not allowed to think anything about magic or any future shows."_   
_ "And if there's a crisis?"_   
_ "We'll both know if it's big enough to warrant action on our part. You need to relax, Ace. I've been sensing a lot of uneasiness in your soul, and it's the pressure of being a top—no, **the** top magician in the world. I can understand the fact you work hard at your skill, but you've got to take it easy once in a while. It won't do any good physically or mentally. Remember what happened to me?"_   
_ He smiled at his younger counterpart. "You're right. I need to quit worrying myself about doing the tricks. It takes time to get them done, and as long as I have you and Cosmo, I have the necessary input to see how to improve those tricks. Okay, after this week, we'll take some days on the beach to relax, since basically, we've all been working too hard."_   
_ Cosmo heard Ace's announcement and exclaimed, "_YES!_ Vacation time coming at last!"_   
_ All three laughed very hard and decided to take that vacation the day after the last performance of the week._

Ace felt invigorated by the breeze and the blue sky. "Angie, this was a wonderful idea. A chance to take that much needed break is exactly what I needed. Thanks, kindred sister."   
_Anytime, Ace,_ she thought to him. _Even the best in the world needs to take a break, so enjoy the sunshine._   
_ What are you doing now?_   
_ I'm parasailing while Cosmo's driving the boat. The view up here is spectacular._   
_ That's great. Keep having fun for now. Let's not worry about anything._   
_ Count on it, Ace._   
Cosmo was at the controls of Ace's Magic Boat, a craft which shared the same color scheme as the Racer, Bike, and his home, the Magic Express. He looked up at a young woman enjoying the parasailing from the sky. "Yo, Angie, how's it goin' up there?" he asked into his radio.   
"Fantastic, Cosmo! I've never parasailed before, and I'm having a blast!"   
"Never? Didn't you go near the Mississippi River to do it at all?"   
"Nope, it was either too much water or too little water."   
Cosmo laughed happily at that remark. "Well, hang on, pal, 'cause I'm gonna go a little faster."   
"Just watch the traffic."   
"No probs!"   
Up about 35 feet in the air, Angela Jacobs was strapped into a harness which connected to a large parachute. Dressed comfortably in a one piece lavender bathing suit, she was having the time of her life, since this was a time she did not have to concern herself with mastering new tricks or using the Magic Force to fight evil alongside Ace Cooper. "Wow! I never thought the view from here could be as gorgeous as it is now. It's like I'm closer to Heaven…closer to Mom and Dad." She looked up into the sky and could see images of her and her parents spending quality time together. She smiled in joy, knowing her parents were always looking down with pride and love on her.   
Meanwhile, not too far away, an elderly couple were about to take their newly purchased yacht into the waters for the first time.   
The gentleman, with graying brown hair and hazel eyes, looked at the woman and smiled. "This is it, Nadine. We're going to christen our yacht, the _Moonglow_. I know you've been waiting for this day for 3 years now."   
"I sure have, Miles," Nadine stated with near tears of joy in her eyes. "After your surgery I never thought we would get a yacht at all."   
"Ah, the advantages of retirement and investing. Let's forget the business side, though. Time to just relax and enjoy the ride."   
After checking their equipment, Miles gave his wife the bottle of champagne. "Here, honey. You will have the honor of christening the _Moonglow_, so take it away."   
"Thank you," she said with a smile. Holding the bottle at the pouring end like a baseball bat, she readied herself to hit the guard rail. "I've waited a long time to say this, so here goes. I, Nadine Sawyers, christen thee, the _Moonglow_!" She then slammed the bottle into the rail, breaking the bottle instantaneously and spilling fizzing champagne around the area.   
Miles laughed about that. "Good job, Nadine. Time to get started on our cruise." He then went up to the controls and started the engine.   
The yacht started immediately, and the happy couple were on their way to enjoying the voyage around the bay area.   
Angie and Cosmo soon noticed the yacht themselves and slowed up to give the couple room to move about.   
"Sorry about that, Angie."   
"That's okay, Cosmo. You gotta give 'em the right of way. Now, back to parasailing again."   
The apprentice/hacker sped up the boat one more time and allowed Angie to float higher into the sky once more.   
"This is real magic," she said to herself. "The sky is so clear, the sun is out full force, and everyone's feeling relaxed. I don't think there could be anything that could ruin this vacation time at all."   
Miles and Nadine Sawyers continued to enjoy their water trip on their yacht.   
"Miles, dear, why don't you put some more speed into it? I think we're going a little too slow for the other boaters around here."   
"Oh, all right." Increasing speed on the vessel, things seemed to be going fine, until he started to feel the boat was going a little too fast. "Hmm, that's strange. I want to go to 20 knots, but the speed's gone way past that. What's going on here?"   
Nadine felt very uncomfortable. "Miles, I didn't say you should go _too_ fast to keep up with them."   
"It's not me. Something's wrong with the yacht. I-I can't slow it down."   
"What should we do?"   
"Try not to panic. We have our lifejackets on, but you need to hold on to the rail for now. Last thing I need is for you to go over the side."   
Nadine grabbed hold of the rail for dear life as she tried not to be afraid of the developing situation.   
Angie continued to enjoy the scenery when she noticed that yacht from earlier. "That's strange. It's heading way too far out into the bay." She then noticed a ferry boat in the distance. "Oh, my God! Those people are in trouble!" She then talked into her wristwatch radio. "Cosmo, quick, contact the Coast Guard and the Harbor Patrol. Tell them a yacht and a ferry boat are on a collision course. I'll see if I can help the people on the yacht."   
"Wait, Angie! How are you going to help them when you're still strapped in?"   
"I'm a magician, remember? Just let me handle this right now."   
Back on the beach, Ace relaxed until he suddenly felt a surge of anxiety within Angie. He then sent a telepathic message to her. _What's going on?_   
_ There are people in trouble on a yacht and a ferry boat. The yacht's getting into a collision course. I'm gonna see if I can stop the yacht before it crashes into the ferry._   
_ Do what you can, Angie, but please be careful._   
Angie quickly released her hands from the line and unstrapped herself from the harness.   
Before she could fall into the water, though, she put herself into a spin and glowed in a light blue aura. **_"Magic Force, reveal the power within!"_**   
Quickly emerging in her special crimefighting costume, she stopped about 10 feet above the water. "I've got to reach that yacht fast." Spinning fast again, she quickly disappeared from sight.   
Miles still had trouble slowing down the yacht but soon discovered his steering was not functioning, either. "Oh, no. I can't turn out of this, either! We're doomed!"   
Suddenly, a light appeared on the port deck. Angie suddenly emerged on their boat. "Looks like you need some help."   
He smiled in relief to see one of the two Magicians. "Miss Jacobs, I can't seem to stop the boat, turn it, or anything, and we're going to crash into the ferry!"   
"I'm going to try using magic to stop the boat. Join your wife and hang on to the rail as hard as you can."   
"All right, but be careful, Miss Jacobs." Miles then went over to the rail and joined Nadine.   
Quickly assessing the situation, Angie took control of the steering wheel and started concentrating as hard as she could. _If I don't stop the yacht now, a lot of people will get hurt. **"Let my heart guide my power!"**_   
Soon the entire ship began glowing in a light blue aura.   
_Must concentrate on stopping the engine, since the brakes have failed as well. Concentrate and focus, Angie, just like Ace has always taught you._ She then closed her eyes to focus her mental energy on the engine. _Got to remove a spark plug from the engine. That'll stop the yacht for sure._   
Visualizing the engine of the boat, she slowly started removing one of the spark plugs in order to cut off the engine and bring the yacht to a halt before it would collide with the ferry.   
In a matter of moments, the spark plug was safely out of position, which caused the boat to slow down and eventually come to a stop less than 1000 meters away from the ferry.   
Angie slumped over in exhaustion from her ordeal.   
_Angie, are you okay?_ she heard from Ace by thought.   
Slowly getting back to her feet, she gave the Magician a positive response. _Yeah, I'm all right. Just a little weak. Never had to stop a boat by magic before._   
_ There's a first time for everything. I'm on the Coast Guard vessel now and should meet up with you in a minute or two._   
_ Okay. In the meantime, I'm going to check on the couple here, make sure they're not seriously hurt._   
_ Good. See you in a minute._   
Angie came down to the deck to check on them. "The boat's stopped now."   
The pair released their grip from the guard rail.   
Miles looked at just how close they were to colliding. "That was too close for comfort."   
"No kidding," Angie said in heavy breath. "Are either of you feeling hurt anywhere?"   
"Um, no, I don't feel like I'm injured," replied Nadine. "I don't know for sure, though."   
The young magician looked at the couple. "Don't worry. Coast Guard and Harbor Patrol should be here shortly. You two should get checked out as a precautionary measure."   
"Good idea, Miss Jacobs," Miles concurred. Looking around and shaking his head in astonishment, he added, "You are some magician. Ace Cooper's been training you very well obviously."   
Angie blushed with that comment. "He really is the best magic teacher anybody could have."   
Soon, four different vessels from the two rescue groups arrived. Ace jumped onto the boat and noticed how pale Angie was. "Hey, you all right?"   
"I'm okay, Ace. I'm just glad nobody got hurt in all this mess."   
Captain Howard Friedrichs and Lieutenant Derek Vega from the Police Department boarded themselves.   
"Good work, Angie," said Friedrichs happily. "You were able to prevent serious damage and injury with your actions."   
"Glad I could do it, Captain. You know I don't like seeing anyone getting hurt."   
Vega smiled as well. "Angie, that was a very brave thing you did, saving this couple and the people on the ferry."   
The people on the ferry applauded the female magician's courageous act and cheered for her.   
Ace then looked at her and grinned proudly. "You should be proud of yourself for doing this. You're a hero."   
"No, I'm not. I just like being a helpful person."   
Vega then turned to the couple to get some information. "Could you tell me what happened?"   
Miles explained the problems he had with the boat. "I don't understand this. We just got this boat last week."   
"I understand. Now, the paramedics are going to check you both out to see if you need to go to the hospital. Can I have your names please?"   
"Miles and Nadine Sawyers."   
"Oh, you owned the Sawyers Linen Company, right?"   
"Yes, I did. I retired four years ago, but I had to have surgery for lung cancer the year after giving up work. I gave the ownership to my longtime partner, who said the name will stick for all time."   
"Great. Well, we'll let the medics do their work, and then if you're both all right, we need to get you down to headquarters for a statement."   
Mr. and Mrs. Sawyers agreed.   
Friedrichs then looked around the boat. "There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the boat, but we can't leave anything to chance. I want this boat sent to our police dock for investigation."   
Vega then came up to Angie. "Thanks for keeping the boat intact. This is the first boat we can actually get clues from."   
"You mean it's not the first time this has happened?"   
"I'm afraid not. At least six other yachts and boats also had problems, but they all blew up before we could get any type of evidence."   
"I see," Angie said in concern.   
A few minutes later, as the rescue boats came into port, Sensa-News reporter Duke Paparazzo put the microphone right into Angie's face. "Miss Jacobs, you did the rescue by yourself, without Cooper's assistance. Does this mean there's some kind of professional tension between you and the Magician?"   
"Tension? What are you talking about? I've got the best teacher in the world, and more importantly, he's my friend. Why would there be tension?"   
"You jumped right into action while Cooper did nothing, and—"   
"Look, Paparazzo!" Angie interrupted angrily. "Ace wasn't exactly in the best position. I was the closest, so he let me handle the rescue efforts. The important thing here is that no one got hurt."   
"You want the fame and fortune for yourself, don't you?"   
Her anger fumed further. "Listen, stupid! If you want the _real_ story, why don't you talk to the two people who were on the collision course with the ferry instead of me!? I'm just a person who is willing to help when someone needs it."   
"Sure, at the right price."   
Angie had heard enough. **_"Shut up!"_** She then pushed him off the dock and into the waters. "When it comes to good news reporting, you will _never_ fit into that category. Why don't you try being a serious reporter instead of being a goofbrain excuse! I wish Kendra were here instead of you!"   
Ace and Vega looked at her in shock.   
Angie put her face down in shame and said, "I'm sorry, but he made me mad when he said things that weren't true."   
Miles came up and comforted the young magician. "It's okay. That guy has a bad reputation of trying to make shame of truly goodhearted individuals like yourself. He did it to me, too, once."   
"Really?"   
"Yes," Nadine answered sadly. "Just before Miles retired from his business, a terrible fire destroyed one of our linen factories. Miles and I knew of people who had worked for us for at least 25 years in that plant and that job was their only source of income. When he agreed to pay the employees full-time pay and benefits until the plant was rebuilt a year later, Paparazzo wanted to know where the money was coming from."   
"He thought I was getting the money from crime bosses or some drug cartel or whatever. He was so determined to get to the truth. The truth is, I had made the fortune all on my own, and I paid them with my own money. It was the least I could do for their loyalty and dedication to their jobs."   
"In other words," Angie said, "you not only made sure their jobs were secure when they returned, but you also made sure they could get through the hard times with their families. You are a good person, Mr. Sawyers."   
"So are you, Miss Jacobs. Believe me, if you didn't do it, I'd have pushed Paparazzo in."   
She felt better, knowing she was not alone when it came to having to put up with the very unethical reporter. "Thank you."   
After Mr. and Mrs. Sawyers left, Angie faced her kindred brother. "Ace, I'm so sorry. I blew my top."   
"I know," he said in hugging her, "but he said a bunch of lies. You were justified to get angry with him. He had no right to say any of that garbage about you. I wish I had pushed him in."   
"That goes for me and about 95% of the other people who've had to deal with him," Vega concurred. "The only other person who's had the gall to push him into the water is director Oliver Rock."   
Angie had heard of the gentleman. "I remember the story. _Jackie Monroe_ was that cursed movie he directed. When something went wrong with one of the scenes, Paparazzo was going for the exclusive scoop when Mr. Rock pushed him into the water. I saw it all take place on TV."   
All three laughed heartily at that crazy time.   
"See, Angie," Ace said in looking at her, "a lot of people don't like Paparazzo at all."   
"I can see why, too. Thanks for helping me feel better. Now, is it safe to say we can get back to the vacation?"   
"Yes. I say we return to vacationing and enjoy the rest of the day."   
With that, Angie quickly went into a spin and reverted back into her bathing suit. "Hope it's not too late to parasail again."   
Cosmo quickly came up in the boat and said, "We'll have to go back and get the parachute again, but at least it's safe to do it."   
Angie jumped into the boat. "Be careful. I pushed Paparazzo into the water, and that weasel may still be somewhere in it."   
"_You_ pushed _him_? Man, he must've made you angry."   
"When it comes to troublemakers, I feel like I have to rank Duke Paparazzo up there with Sonny Boy and Black Jack. For now, though, let's forget about it and get on with the va-ca!"   
"Yahoo!" Cosmo exclaimed happily.   
Ace then joined them. "I'm getting worried about Zina."   
Through his watch radio, his AI partner Angel reassured him. "Zina's doing just fine, Ace. She's keeping herself busy with those floating balls you did for her this morning. When should I expect all of you back?"   
"About two more hours, and we'll be home for dinner. Besides, I can't wait to eat the grilled pork chops Angie's going to cook up."   
The three close friends then took the boat back to the starting point to pick up the parachute and parasail again.   
A few minutes later, Paparazzo finally pulled himself out of the water and stood up on the dock. Completely soaked after his experience, he stared angrily at the water. "Angela Jacobs, you're gonna pay for this! Nobody, and I mean nobody, does this to Duke Paparazzo and gets away with it! I am the star reporter for Sensa-News, and I will not allow her to get off that easily. I am a star, and I will make her suffer!" He then walked away to find a nearby taxi. "I'm going to put a stop to her once and for all," he muttered angrily as he took the cab back to the Sensa-News Studio. 

Upon his arrival at the studio, the doorman asked, "What happened to you? Get caught in a sudden flash flood or something?"   
"Don't ask," the reporter stated in a mean tone. He then proceeded into the studio.   
Upon passing through the halls, he heard the voice of the new owner of the Sensa-News Network, Kelly Wilders. "Duke, get in here, now!"   
Paparazzo shrugged in total nervousness as he stepped into the owner's office. "Y-yes, sir?"   
"I can't believe you would do something as deplorable as claim professional tension between magicians Ace Cooper and Angela Jacobs. You know damn well those two have done more than their share of protecting the people here in Electro City and beyond. After all, they saved her aunt in Des Moines, and saved thousands of people at the Party Carnival outside of Lazaro City. Just because Angie saved that couple by herself doesn't automatically mean she's trying to grab all the attention for herself. As she clearly stated she was in the best position to perform the rescue, so she did. I was hoping Kendra Rayler would have been out there instead of you."   
Rubbing his right hand through his brown hair, he shook his head. "Ever since Rutger Shoendorf was thrown in prison for his part in the attempted murders of at least three people, I took ownership to make sure we cleaned up the trash. Apparently, not all the trash has been picked up properly."   
"But…I was just trying to get the story, that's all. That's my job."   
"Oh, really? I saw the whole thing go down. You were making things up about Angie, claiming she was after the fame and fortune all for herself, willing to help people _at the right price_. I'm going to tell you right now, if you want to maintain your star reporter status, you'd better do one thing: _clean up your act!_ I will _not_ have the reputation of this network compromised by someone who pushes reporting to the point of being purely unethical! Now, get out of here; you're soaking the floor."   
Paparazzo walked out of Wilders's office angrier than ever. _Okay, Mr. Wilders, you want me to do something, I'll do something all right. I'm going to **destroy** Angela Jacobs's life once and for all!_   
He went into the archives room to gather information about Angela Jacobs herself. Looking through video disk after video disk, he became embittered. "Damn! All I seem to find on Angela Jacobs are the good deeds she's done for this city." He then saw the report done by fellow employee Kendra Rayler in the Party Carnival incident. "That should have been me doing that report, not that loser Kendra. If only Wilders didn't put me to do health department scores for restaurants…forget it."   
He then came up with a rather wicked idea. "If I can't get the juicy stuff I want about Little Miss Jacobs, then I'll do the next best thing, _fabricate_ it."   
He then started typing up a fake report about her. "Growing up in the tough streets of Boston, a juvenile delinquent all the time, in trouble with the law constantly. A judge gave her one chance to turn her whole life around, so they made her go to school and just barely graduated. Yeah, this is gonna be really juicy." He continued his nasty plan of shattering Angie's reputation forever.   
Meanwhile, Wilders called for Kendra Rayler to come into his office.   
"You wanted to see me?"   
"Yes. Kendra, I want you to cover the story about the yacht. It's the seventh one in the last three months to have had problems, and that's too much to be a coincidence."   
"Thanks to Angie, the Sawyers' boat is the first solid piece of evidence the police has. Anything you want me to do, story wise?"   
"Yeah. Just check with the police on what they have so far. They'll probably look into the boating incident tomorrow as they break the boat down into individual parts. Whatever happens, I do not want Paparazzo to do this story, especially after what he tried to do to Angela Jacobs. I'm personally glad she pushed him into the bay."   
"So am I," Kendra concurred. "I'll get on the story and stay with it, but only get the necessary information and facts, not make an editorial about it."   
"Good. Get on it, Kendra."   
When she left the room, Wilders could not believe he had one of the best and one of the worst in the same building. "If Paparazzo doesn't get his act straight, I'll make Kendra Rayler into the new star reporter." 

The next day, in the confines of the Magic Express, everyone felt somewhat relaxed in the living room, no magic practices, no update needed on the computer, or anything of importance…except for the yacht.   
"So," Ace noted, "Vega finally has an intact boat he can use to see if there is any pattern of sabotage."   
Cosmo agreed with the Magician. "How long do will it be before we get any additional info?"   
"Hard to say." He then noticed Angie being surprisingly silent. "Angie, what's the matter? I can sense something making you uneasy."   
She could not help but feeling bad about what she did to Duke Paparazzo. "I didn't mean to push him into the water," she said sadly.   
Cosmo patted her shoulder. "Angie, _any_ of us would itch for the chance to push him into the water. He's just a sleazoid of a reporter."   
"I agree," Ace added. "He said statements that were truly deceiving to the public, and more importantly, your heart. Of course, he doesn't really have a lot of information on you."   
"True. He probably doesn't know I grew up in a regular home in Iowa." She then looked at her watch. "Oops, time to cook up some sesame chicken and veggies. I'm heading into the kitchen."   
"Sure thing."   
After the younger magician left to start cooking, Ace concentrated on Angie's heart. "She's still feeling a little bad, but she's not feeling extremely guilty. In fact, I can sense a bit of justification for her actions. Duke Paparazzo has gotten himself into trouble a number of times."   
"Yeah, dude, like remember when you rescued him from the Sensa-News studios when it caught fire? You had saved his life, and he knew you were innocent, but—"   
"I remember all too well. Friedrichs thought I attacked Paparazzo on purpose. There was also the time when Paparazzo got into deep trouble for that story he was trying to do. Then, I had to stop him from exposing my magic on national TV by switching the tapes."   
"Doesn't he ever learn?"   
"The day he learns his lesson will be the day I give up doing magic."   
Cosmo then grabbed the remote control and turned on the television set.   
Oddly, Duke Paparazzo was on the screen.   
"Whoa!" exclaimed the apprentice/hacker. "He's not supposed to be on this early in the day. What gives?"   
"Ladies and gentlemen," the reporter started, "today I am going to expose the truth about someone who 'claims' to be a protector of Electro City but is after fame, fortune, and attention."   
"Hmm, an exposé?" Ace questioned curiously. "I wonder who it's on anyway?"   
Paparazzo then started his report. "I think you'll find my exposé on Angela Jacobs very insightful."   
Both gentlemen went into shock. **_"Angela Jacobs!?"_**   
"She grew up on the mean streets of Boston, Massachusetts, with no family to love, and her only means of survival was as a juvenile delinquent, constantly robbing stores and businesses. Her police record was a long list, from grand theft auto to shoplifting." On the screen showed a surveillance video of Angie supposedly stealing expensive clothing from a department store. "She constantly got away with all her crimes, until the police finally caught up with her."   
"That can't be right!" Cosmo shouted. "She's from Mason City, Iowa, not Boston! Also, the only thing she ever did was accidentally walk out of a convenient store with a _TV Guide_. Her parents set her straight afterward!"   
"A judge then gave her two choices: Spend the rest of her life in prison or straighten up and go to school. She chose the latter and just barely passed out of high school. Opting not to go to college, she spent those years wandering around, with no job, no place to live, or whatever. Then, she arrived here in Electro City two years ago, where she was so desperate to find work, she literally begged Ace Cooper to let her stay with him in the Magic Express."   
Ace became disillusioned. "Those are all lies! Angie never got into trouble with the law, and she was a co-valedictorian with Ashley Brighton at her high school in Mason City, Iowa!"   
"Yeah!" Cosmo agreed angrily. "She also went to college at Iowa State and wandered for only one year. Angie did come to Electro City two years ago, but she ran into me by accident."   
"And she didn't _beg_ me to stay here. I wanted her to stay, so I could help her open her heart and develop her powers. How dare he say that!"   
Outside, Angie continued to cook her sesame chicken on the grill when she suddenly felt something rotten in Ace's heart. _He's become angry about something. I wonder what it is._   
She closed the lid on the grill to let the chicken pieces continue simmering. Just before she entered the living room, however, she came to notice Paparazzo on the screen, talking about her.   
"Miss Jacobs is only after the fame, fortune, and attention. In fact, she was probably paid off to perform that rescue she had done yesterday. Don't be surprised if _she's_ directly responsible for sabotaging the boat."   
Angie's eyes widened in total shock and disbelief. "No," she whispered fearfully.   
Ace heard the sound and turned to the door to see her shocked face. "Angie," he gasped.   
With tears starting to fall, she held her hands to her face in shame and started sobbing uncontrollably. **_"NO!"_** she screamed. "How could he do this to me!?" She then ran to her room and locked her door.   
Ace and Cosmo quickly followed her and tried to get into the room themselves but to no avail.   
"Angie," Ace said calmly, "open up. That whole thing is a lie."   
The female magician, though, could not hear his words, for a single thought clouded her mind. _I can never show my face in public ever again._

   [1]: mailto:magicianfanatic@yahoo.com



	2. Reporter Hides; Yachts Sabotaged?

When Exposés Attack (Part 2)

When Exposés Attack   
Part 2: Reporter Hides; Yachts Sabotaged?

At her mansion on the outskirts of Mason City, Iowa, first-grade teacher Ashley Brighton was enjoying the summer vacation from school. After another successful year of teaching students, she wanted to relax and worry about the new year come late August.   
Eating lunch cooked by her reliable butler George, she was watching different channels in hopes of finding something good on television. She then switched to the Sensa-News channel, where she heard Duke Paparazzo's voice. "Hmm, what's that warped reporter up to now?" she asked herself as she started to hit "record" on her remote control.   
As she took a sip of her soda, she heard Paparazzo say, "I think you'll find my exposé on Angela Jacobs very insightful."   
That caused her to spit out her drink and yell, **_"WHAT!?"_**   
George then ran into the living room. "Ashley, what's the matter?"   
"That madman of a reporter's doing an exposé on my little sister!" After seeing the full report, she became further enraged. "I don't believe this! That whole thing is a fabrication on her!" She then stepped up from the sofa and grabbed the telephone.   
"What are you doing now, Ashley?" George asked curiously.   
"I'm gonna call the one reporter who has always reported the truth." After dialing the number, she simply said, "My name is Ashley Brighton, and I would like to speak to Carrie Jones, please. Tell her I have a breaking story and that this is very important." 

At the building of television station KMCO, a woman with brown hair and blue eyes looked into the camera and said, "That's it for the 12:00 News. Come back at 6 for more news throughout Mason City and the world."   
The director said, "Okay, cut. Nice job, Carrie. See you at 5 to be ready at six."   
"Thanks, Jerry."   
In the control room, Jerry answered the telephone. "Yes?" Hearing the information carefully from the secretary, he spoke into his microphone. "Carrie, you've got a telephone call from an Ashley Brighton, and she's saying this is very important."   
"Okay, let me get to my office and I'll pick up there."   
Carrie Jones quickly ran to her workplace and answered her telephone. "Hello?"   
"Miss Jones, this is Ashley Brighton. I need to ask you this question, have you received telephone calls yet about an exposé on Angela Jacobs?"   
Carrie was very surprised. "An exposé…on Angela? No, why?"   
"You may start to get flooded with calls at the station. I managed to record the entire story on videodisk. Would you like to see it for yourself?"   
"Miss Brighton, you're one of this city's best citizens. I can tell you're not making this up. I'll meet you at your house in 30 minutes." The anchor hung up her phone and started leaving in a hurry.   
Jerry was a little concerned. "Hey, why're you rushing off for? You can relax a little."   
"Not if someone has done an exposé on female magician Angela Jacobs. Remember, Mason City is her hometown. Get your office ready for a possible flooding of calls, okay?"   
"Gotcha, Carrie."   
As she ran towards the entrance, she noticed the secretary struggling with the telephone. "Let me guess, the flood of calls about Angela Jacobs, right?"   
"How did you know that?"   
"I got the first one today, and this could be a major story. Tell all the callers that I'm on the case already."   
She then jumped into her car and took off for Ashley Brighton's house. 

Ashley stood at her front door and noticed Carrie coming rapidly in her car into the driveway.   
The KMCO reporter got out of the car and came up to the teacher. "Hello, Miss Brighton."   
"I'm so glad you came," Ashley said in shaking her hand. "Oh, and just call me Ashley."   
"Only if you call me Carrie and not 'Miss Jones'. Now, what's the deal about an exposé on Angela Jacobs?"   
"I saw Duke Paparazzo's phoney report he did on Angie. Here, look at this vid disk."   
After looking carefully at the video disk for five minutes, Carrie was shocked. "I know I'm supposed to be a professional when it comes to being a reporter, but I can't help but saying…that slime! Duke Paparazzo has the reputation of trying to ruin people, and now he's gone way too far. The station's already getting the flood of telephone calls about it."   
"I know, and I wouldn't be surprised if Angie out west is having trouble with this right now." 

Back at the Magic Express in Electro City, Angie, still locked away in her room after seeing her own false exposé, put her face on the pillow and cried badly. "It's no use," she muttered to herself. "I can't show my face in public anymore. People will believe Paparazzo's story."   
Outside the room, Ace and Cosmo tried to reason with her to open the door.   
"C'mon, Angie," said a worried Cosmo. "We know you're not that type of person Paparazzo's made you out to be. Let us in, please."   
Ace used mind-to-mind contact to talk with her. _Kindred sister, please let us in. We both know that was all a lie, and we still love you. He's just getting revenge for your scolding him about the boat situation. You had every right to be upset at him. I understand how you feel, Angie. Just, don't lock yourself away from us. We can help you deal with this problem._   
The female magician was still very upset when she heard her parents' voices in her heart.   
_"Listen to him, Angie," said her mother Nancy. "A terrible wrong has been done to you, but don't let that destroy the friendships you have built since you came to Electro City. Your friends are always there for you as you are for them."_   
__ Her father Robert agreed. "False exposés have been done before, but I never thought it could be done to our own daughter. However, instead of locking yourself in your room, come back, stronger and better than ever before. Let your friends help you out. Believe me, it'll be the best way to deal with this kind of situation. In addition, people back home may have seen this and may be very upset themselves at what that reporter has done to you."   
__ "Thanks, Mom and Dad. You're right. I'm not going to let Paparazzo stop me from living my life."   
She then sat up and looked at the door. "Come in, guys."   
The second the door opened, Ace came up and cuddled his kindred sister. "I know this hurts deeply right now, what that reporter's done to you. He made everything up, saying you were a juvenile delinquent with no parents in Boston. Since Paparazzo didn't have a lot of information on you, he decided to make it all up."   
"Yeah," Angie noted, "but most people are going to believe that story."   
"On the contrary. Most people in Electro City know what a wonderful person you really are. In fact, don't be surprised if a kind of rally crowd starts coming together and goes after Paparazzo himself."   
"Oh, boy, that's the last thing needed, more people seeking revenge."   
Ace then sent a thought to her. _Will you try to seek revenge against him?_   
_ No, never. I am _not_ a vengeful person. Revenge is no solution to a problem._ "Speaking of problems, I wonder how Vega's doing about the yacht situation? I'm thinking about heading to police headquarters."   
Cosmo was surprised. "You mean…you want to get to the bottom of this?"   
"Yes, I do, Cosmo. I refuse to let Paparazzo's rotten report stop me from helping out in determining what's causing the yachts to short out."   
Ace smiled at her proudly. "I'm glad you feel that way, Angie. How about we go with you?"   
Just then, a pointed pink-purplish hologram appeared in front of everyone. "Ace, there are four calls coming in: Senator Dobbs, Lieutenant Vega, Kelly Wilders from the Sensa-News Network, and Ashley Brighton form Mason City."   
"Okay, thanks, Angel. We'll take each call in the computer room."   
Putting the top priority last, being Lieutenant Vega, he started with Senator Dobbs. "What can I do for you, Senator?"   
"I can't believe Paparazzo has done this to your friend Angie. It's so unfair that someone so kindhearted and true was subjected to something this awful."   
"I can understand that, sir. However, you may have to worry about possible riots in the city as a result of this."   
"Agreed. I've already informed Friedrichs to have riot squads ready for action. Meanwhile, what will Angie be doing this afternoon?"   
The female magician answered herself. "I'm going to continue what I do best, practicing for upcoming shows, helping others, and most importantly, living my life. I am not going to wither away because of this. The first person I believe is myself."   
"Good. Well, I'm going to see if I can calm the city down for now."   
Ace then took the call from Kelly Wilders, the head of the Sensa-News Network. "How's the TV business?"   
"Not so good at the moment," the station head answered regretfully. "Paparazzo's overstepped his bounds this time with that report of his. Unfortunately, once he finished that report, he ran off, and we haven't seen him since."   
"Might be for the best right now. Riots could start all over the place as a result of this."   
"Yeah, we've been getting pounded with call after call about Angie, and threats have actually started coming to us. I mean—"   
"It's not your fault, Mr. Wilders. You took over when Schoendorf was thrown in prison for his involvement in the deadly game show, and I know you've been doing the best you can to clean the network's reputation. I'm not going to place blame on the entire network on account of one rotten apple."   
"Thanks, Ace. I promise you this, if we do find Paparazzo, I'm going to demand that he apologizes to Angie in public on live TV." Wilders then saw Angie. "I am so sorry this happened to you. You didn't deserve this."   
"I understand," she said with a smile. "I'm with Ace. I'm not going to blame all of you for this."   
Ace then said, "I hate to go so suddenly, but we've got two more calls coming in, and both of them are important."   
"Not a problem. We'll do our part to keep everybody calm as best we can."   
Call number three came from Angie's best friend, Ashley Brighton. "Angie, are you all right? I saw the report and—"   
"I'm okay, Ashley. I was shocked and very disheartened at first, but I've got my friends to make sure I am doing fine in all this chaos. What about you?"   
"Well, let's just say people here in Mason City aren't taking this so well, since everybody knows you came from here, not Boston. However, there is some good news. Remember Carrie Jones?"   
"The best reporter at KMCO? You bet! She always gets to the truth of a story, no matter how weird it sounds, like this one."   
"Well, I told her about the situation, and she's agreed to help come up with a counter exposé, showing the real truth about you and your life. Is that okay with you?"   
"Could I talk to her?"   
"Yeah, she's right here."   
Angie then noticed the reporter. "Hello, Miss Jones. It's nice to see you again."   
"Same here, but I'm just upset at what Paparazzo's done to you. I'd like to do a real exposé on you, one that shows just how good you really are. May I ask for permission?"   
"Better than that, it's okay to do it. It's time people knew who I really was. Now, we need to get through one more telephone call."   
"Of course. Thanks, Angie."   
"Anytime."   
Finally, Vega was on the phone. "Hey, what happened? Getting loads of calls?"   
Ace sarcastically said, "Wouldn't you get a lot of calls if an exposé was done on a close friend of yours?"   
"You mean, Paparazzo did one on you?"   
"Not on me, on Angie. Things have gotten a little out of hand in the last hour."   
"Oh, sorry. Angie, um, are you okay enough to come to the police dock? I think your telemetric power may be useful on the boat. We've looked it twice with the computer, and all we got was a slightly burned brake line. Maybe your power could help us figure out if there were anything else and possibly prove there was sabotage involved."   
"Yeah, I'm well enough, Vega. I can't let an exposé stop me from doing my job here in Electro City. We'll meet you there ASAP."   
"Great, Angie. See you there."   
Ace was surprised the phone calls got through. "Angel, we're leaving now. If any other calls come in, tell the callers we're not available for about two hours."   
"I will notify them immediately, Ace," said the soft-toned AI.   
"Okay, let's go."   
Ace, Angie, Cosmo, and Zina ran into the garage and gathered into the Magic Racer. In seconds, the Racer left the garage and was on its way to the police dock. 

Meanwhile, Duke Paparazzo himself kept running as far from the station as he possibly could. "I need to get in disguise somehow," he panted desperately.   
Seeing a costume shop on his path, he stopped in. "Excuse me, but do you have any black hair spray I can use? I need it in a hurry."   
"Yeah, here it is," said the proprietor. "It's 4.95. I suggest you get some mousse, too, make your hair stand down a little bit."   
"Fine, I'll take that, too." He then noticed the perfect disguise. "Um, how much is that outfit, the one that looks like a hobo going from train to train?"   
"It's $40 to rent, $100 if you want to keep it."   
Paparazzo gave him the $200 electrodollars and took the costume. "Rest is a tip!"   
After leaving the store in a hurry, he ran to the nearest spot with a mirror, switched into the costume, and quickly applied the spray to change his hair color from blonde into black. He then applied the mousse to get his hair downward. "There," he said as he looked in the mirror. "Now nobody'll recognize me."   
Taking his wallet out of his coat pocket and placing it into his pants pocket, he then came out into the open and noticed a crowd of screaming people coming towards him.   
An angry gentleman came up to him and asked, "Have you seen Duke Paparazzo?"   
Changing his voice to sound more like an older person, he said, "No, sonny, I haven't. What did he do?"   
"He did one of the most horrifying exposés I've ever seen in my life, on female magician Angela Jacobs. She's too kindhearted to be what he said she was, a Boston juvenile delinquent. We want to find him and stone him, but good!"   
Paparazzo realized just how much trouble he was in now. _Oh, man, this is serious. I'd better lead them in the wrong direction for now._ "I think I saw him going east on 46th Street."   
"Thanks, pal." Turning to the mob of angry citizens, he said, "Let's get him!"   
After they ran off to find him, Paparazzo decided his best course of action was to stay in the costume. "I'll have to get rid of my own outfit till the smoke clears on this matter."   
He then took his normal pink jacket, off-white slacks, and blue shoes and threw them in the dumpster.   
Paparazzo finally understood the gist of the situation and knew he would have to stay as low-profile as possible. 

At the police dock, Ace and his friends arrived to meet up with Vega. Of course, Zina had to stay in the Racer because of the pets rule.   
Vega gave them all warm greetings. "Good to see all of you, and especially you, Angie. Someone at the station told me about the exposé Paparazzo did on you, and there have already been reports of at least 300 people going after him."   
"I wish I could do something, but right now, there's a mystery here, and it has to do with the Sawyers' boat."   
"Right. Maybe with your telemetric powers, we could figure out if sabotage is a factor in this and the other boats, too."   
As they walked up to the boat in question, Angie knew to expect something bad because in most instances where her telemetry came to life, anything bad would come as a terrifying "flare."   
Reaching the boat, Vega turned to Angie. "All right, Angie. It's all yours."   
"Okay, here goes."   
She placed her right hand on the boat and immediately gasped in terror as her power flared to life once more.   
Vega grew concerned. "Angie?"   
"It's okay," Ace said in a low tone. "This is expected when it's something unpleasant."   
Getting her breathing under control, images soon began forming within her mind.   
"What can you see in your visions right now, Angie?" asked the Magician.   
"I see…many boats, like in a manufacturing plant. This one is in preparation to be delivered to Mr. and Mrs. Sawyers. I see people and some robots working on the boat." Then, she noticed a robot near the brake line of the boat. "Wait, this robot, the one in charge of making the brake line taut…it's actually making a burn in part of the brake line…intentionally, like it was programmed to do so."   
"I don't understand that," Vega said in confusion. "I know that manufacturing plant. It's the only one in Electro City, but those robots are all working on the boats."   
"Unless," interrupted Ace, "that was a custom-built boat with certain specifications. Wouldn't special robots be used to make those types?"   
"Yes, of course. You think maybe those particular robots may be faulty or something?"   
"Wait, I see something else nearby," Angie noted as she continued with her vision. "A…list of people."   
Cosmo then questioned, "Well, who's on the list?"   
"Mr. and Mrs. Sawyers, Professor Surge, Jack Malone, Sonny Boy Surge, Jason Beager, Zelda LeMond, and Nesh Divine."   
"Two crime bosses, the professor, a current businessman, a former businessman and his wife, a model, and a singer?"   
"Wait a minute," Vega realized. "Mr. and Mrs. Sawyers' boat is the one intact. The other six people had their yachts blow up before we could save the boats as evidence."   
Ace then turned to Angie. "Is there anything else you see?"   
"No, but I can hear a voice, saying, 'They will all pay for what they did to me.'"   
"Can you tell who's saying it?"   
"No. I can tell by the tone this is a young woman who is out to get even, but I don't understand why she's connected to seven different people."   
Vega was going to say something when he heard the radio. "Vega, it's Miss LeSage."   
"What is it?"   
"Friedrichs wants you back here immediately. The riot crowd is building rapidly, and all searching for Paparazzo."   
"Damn! Okay, tell him I'm on the way." He looked at the others. "Sorry, everybody."   
"No problem, dude," said Cosmo. "We'll take care of this case. You help Friedrichs with the mob."   
"Thanks." The lieutenant left Ace and the others alone.   
Angie's vision started to fade. "Oh, no, don't disappear yet, please." Everything blurred away, and the vision was gone. She faced her friends. "Sorry, guys. I can't see anything else."   
Cosmo reassured her. "It's okay, Angie. We got some major clues out of it."   
"Yes," concurred Ace, "and we now know someone is out to get all these individuals. I suggest our next step is to check with most of the people on the list. Angie, I want you to talk with Zelda and Nesh. Cosmo, you find Beager and Professor Surge. Me, I'm going to talk with Mona and Shackles about the crime bosses' yachts. They may be able to shed more light on the problem without my having to talk to both crime bosses in the process."   
"Sounds like a plan to me," said Angie happily.   
"Hold it," interrupted Cosmo. "Can I ask for one little switch? I want Zelda and Nesh."   
Ace rolled his eyes and said, "Okay, Cosmo. _You_ get Zelda and Nesh, and Angie can talk with Beager and Professor Surge."   
Angie realized what was going on with Cosmo's request. _I take it he's a big fan of Zelda LeMond and Nesh Divine?_   
__ You realize correctly, Angie. You don't mind, do you?   
_ Nah, I'm okay with it. We'd better get to work on this. Poor Vega, having to help with the developing riot situation._ "Time to get to work."   
The three went back into the Racer and left for their respected destinations. 

Vega went into Friedrichs's office a little steamed. "Captain, we have this yacht mystery to deal with. Why do you want me to control the mob situation?"   
"Look, Vega, right now our immediate concern is making sure the crowd doesn't get out of control. I want you to set up a perimeter around Paparazzo's home, since his life is in danger."   
"Someone is out to kill some important people in our city by sabotaging the yachts."   
"Oh, and how did you deduce that, Lieutenant? Did you have your friend Cooper come in and look at the boat as carelessly as he does everything else?"   
"No, I let Angie take a look at it."   
"I'm surprised she would show her face, since I knew she was just a juvenile delinquent."   
Vega became infuriated. "You are actually dumb enough to believe Paparazzo's exposé on Angie!?"   
"Well, she's just like that other young man in the group, a troublemaker."   
"You'd better look at her record just a little more carefully, Captain. You'd be very surprised." He then stormed out of the office.   
Friedrichs growled, "Stubborn Vega. It's no wonder he's still stuck at the rank of Lieutenant."   
Vega then went into his office, where Miss LeSage gave him the reports so far on Paparazzo's situation. "I guess things aren't going so well."   
"No, Miss LeSage, I'm afraid not. He actually thinks Angie is just as much trouble as Cosmo."   
"What!? I've got a good mind to—"   
"Don't. I've had to put up with him so much, but I can handle it. I'm going to take up the Paparazzo case while I let Ace handle the yacht problem."   
"What information did you get?"   
"Angie's telemetry tells us the yachts in question were sabotaged, but we don't know anything else at this point." He then started walking out and added, "I want you to check out information about anyone who's been employed by the following people: Miles and Nadine Sawyers, Jack Malone, Professor Jonathan Surge, Sonny Boy Surge, Jason Beager, Zelda LeMond, and Nesh Divine."   
"That particular list?"   
"Yes. That may hold a key as to who the saboteur is."   
"I'll get on it immediately. Be careful."   
"Don't worry, I'll be fine." He stepped out of the office to get to his new assignment. 

Ace dropped Angie off at Surge Laboratories so she could talk with Professor Jonathan Surge about his yacht being destroyed.   
She entered the building in hopes of finding the professor. Oddly enough, she saw both Professor Surge and Jason Beager stepping out of the elevator on the main floor.   
"Professor Surge?" Angie said calmly.   
He noticed the young magician. "Angie, hello. What brings you here today?"   
"Um, actually, I need to talk to both of you, something to do with a yacht you each owned?"   
Beager and Surge looked at each other in confusion.   
The CEO of Beager Electronics looked at her and said, "Well, I did own a yacht, but it didn't last a week before it was blown in an accidental explosion."   
"I did, too," the professor noted. "I was taking it along the bay when it had major problems. I bailed out just in time before it exploded. Why do you want to know this?"   
"Well, both of you and four other people all had yachts blow up, and Ace and I both feel it's way too much to be a coincidence."   
"Yes, one of those four others is my son. He also bought a personal yacht for himself, but like Jason's, his blew up as well."   
"I see. The police couldn't get any major clues out of it?"   
Beager quickly replied, "Nope. There wasn't enough evidence to use for anything. What are you saying?"   
"I'm saying…someone may have deliberately sabotaged all the yachts for some type of revenge."   
The two gentlemen looked at each other and nodded in agreement.   
Professor Surge patted Angie's shoulder. "I think you and Ace are certainly onto something. Seven yachts, and six blow up. You were lucky to get that seventh one unscathed."   
"Yeah, I know. Oh, how's the research on the dimensional device going?"   
"It's been great, so great in fact I've signed a contract with Mr. Beager here to help us make some more chips that are small enough to get even more information. You were a big help before, Angie, and I've never forgotten that."   
"Thanks. I think I got all the info I wanted about this situation. Ace and Cosmo are checking out the others in the process." She looked at her watch. "I hope I'm not holding you up from anything."   
"No," said Beager happily. "We just ended our contract negotiations meeting. You're okay, trust me."   
"Thank you, Mr. Beager. I'd better go. I need to get this information to Ace and the others fast. If I need anything else, can I ask you for that, or is that too much?"   
The professor smiled and shook his head. "Angie, it's okay with us. If you need more information, don't hesitate to let us know."   
"Thanks, Professor. So long." She then walked out of the building and called for a taxi to get her back to the Magic Express. 

Meanwhile, Cosmo visited the home of his model friend, Zelda LeMond, who just happened to have singer Nesh Divine over to discuss plans for a new music video.   
"That's the problem," he said, "we think somebody is trying to take you all out by sabotaging the yachts you purchased."   
"Interesting," Zelda noted. "All the time I thought I did something wrong with the boat. You know my 'need for speed'."   
Nesh added, "Yeah, and you explained about others losing their special yachts as well, so it looks like these aren't accidents after all. So, now what should we do?"   
"Well, I'm not sure for now, but, like, if we need anything else, can I call ya both?"   
"Sure, we'll be here all afternoon planning the music video for my next song, so it's okay to call."   
"Thanks. Still got a couple more places to get to. Better run."   
Cosmo ran to Ace in the Racer and said, "They also had sabotaged boats themselves."   
"Angie's back at the Express already with some info from Beager and Professor Surge. They said they also had problems with their boats on the first voyage. This is definitely a case of sabotage, but we don't know who's behind all this right now. Our next stop is the Adele Department Store in the DNA Club/Mall, since that's where Shackles is working now since being paroled for good behavior."   
In a few minutes, the gentlemen entered the store to find Shackles. They located him in the men's clothing department.   
"Ace, Cosmo, good to see you guys," the reformed swindler said happily. "I'm just starting my afternoon break right now. So, what's going on?"   
"Well," stated Ace, "it has to do with your old job with Sonny Boy. Do you remember him purchasing a custom-designed yacht, only for it to blow up on its first voyage?"   
"Yeah, I do remember that. When I was to join up with him and his gang, he invited me on his yacht, but something went wrong with it, and we had to jump ship just before it detonated. The police showed up to make sure nobody was hurt, but the boat was too far gone to get any sign of sabotage or whatever."   
"We think the yachts were sabotaged by someone who messed with the robots at the manufacturing plant. Do you know anything else?"   
Thinking carefully, Shackles shook his head. "No, that's all I got for now. All I can remember, anyway. Sorry."   
"That's cool," said Cosmo. "Thanks, man."   
"Anytime. I'm really gettin' the hang of being a good person. I owe that to you, Cosmo, and Angie. I, um, saw that exposé on Angie. I don't think any of that mess is true, is it?"   
"Nope, none of that's true. That creep Paparazzo wants to destroy her reputation."   
"Well, the place is buzzing with people who don't believe it and those who actually believe that nut."   
Ace affirmed, "Don't worry. Someone in Angie's hometown is working on a exposé which will reveal the truth about Angie. Believe me, sometime in the next few hours, her reputation will be restored."   
"I hope so. She's too good of a person to get treated like this. I'm glad she pushed that idiot into the bay when he went after her instead of talking to the two boating victims. Anyway, good luck with the yacht problem."   
"Thanks, Shackles. You've been very helpful to us."   
As Ace and Cosmo left the store to return to the Racer, they both understood the brunt of the two problems.   
"Man, Angie's getting her share of bad luck because of this exposé."   
"I know." Concentrating on Angie's heart, he added, "She wants to help out with the yacht mystery, but I can feel her heart is still in a lot of pain because of the lies. I'm going to check on her."   
He then reached out to his kindred sister telepathically. _Angie, are you doing all right?_   
__ Yeah, but you can tell just how much I hurt in my heart. I'm scared my own reputation will be destroyed forever.   
__ Don't worry, Angie. Carrie Jones will help you out, and the majority of people here do believe you're not a former delinquent from Boston. Just believe what is in your own heart, and you will get through this, I promise.   
__ Thanks, kindred brother, for the words of encouragement. Now, where are you and Cosmo going?   
__ On our way to Mona's. She's the last person we need to see for information about the destroyed yachts. All the evidence is pointing towards sabotage. We'll be back in time for dinner, I promise.   
__ Okay, I'll see you then.   
"Let's get to Mona's house."   
Ace then zoomed the Racer into high speed to get to the home of his childhood sweetheart, Mona Malone. 

Meanwhile, Paparazzo was tiring out and was about to reach his own mansion when he noticed a huge crowd outside the gate. "What's going on here?" he asked himself. "Why are all these people in front of my home?" Then, he noticed the riot squad. "Oh, great. How am I supposed to get into my own home, when the police won't let anybody near it!?"   
At least 500 people were desperately trying to get into Paparazzo's home to seriously harm him.   
"Let me in!" screamed one woman. "I want to make sure he gets his, lying about someone so sweet as Angie!"   
An angry gentleman shouted, "That stupid jerk! I've always liked Angela Jacobs, and she's much too kindhearted to deserve to be treated like this! I'll mangle that idiot!"   
The riot squad had a lot of trouble trying to keep them under control.   
"I've got to get into my own house somehow!" he said angrily to himself.   
He then started running for the gate and was quickly subdued by armored officers.   
"Hold it, friend!" shouted the officer-in-charge. "Nobody's getting in here, and I mean _nobody_."   
Paparazzo considered taking out his wallet but realized that could be a major mistake. I can't. If I take out my wallet, it'll give away the disguise. I'd better do what they say, or I will get mangled! He then got up. "Sorry, young man. I didn't mean to get so aggressive." He then ran away, but not before his wallet accidentally fell out of his pocket.   
The woman who yelled earlier came and picked up the wallet. "Sir, wait! You dropped your wallet!" Too far away at this point, she decided to open it. "Maybe there's a telephone number in here, so I can call him and tell him." She then realized about the clothes he wore. "Could that kind of man have a wallet like this?" Upon looking at his driver's license, she turned to the crowd and screamed, "We need to catch that man! This wallet belongs to Duke Paparazzo! He may know where that monster's hiding!"   
The crowd followed her in order to catch up with the mysterious man.   
Paparazzo soon took a rest in a nearby alley. "Whew, that was close. I'm getting hungry." He then went to his pants pocket, only to discover his wallet was gone. "What the—where's my wallet?" He then remembered running away from his own home. "Shoot! I dropped it when I ran away from my house!"   
He heard the angry mob approaching. "If one of those people found it, they'll come looking for _me_!" Making a run for it, he started zigzagging through the streets, desperately trying to find shelter.   
The woman who found the wallet was the first to notice. "There he goes! Come on, after him!"   
As Paparazzo, still in disguise, was being chased by the angry mob, he started to realize he had gone way too far in his unethical reporting. He finally understood he was in danger of being harmed, or even…_killed_. 


	3. Truth Is Sought Two-Fold

When Exposés Attack (Part 3)

When Exposés Attack   
Part 3: Truth Is Sought Two-Fold

Ace and Cosmo quickly arrived at Mona's house on the coast to get the last piece of information they needed to know for sure if sabotage had played a role in the destruction of six yachts for different people.   
After letting them in, she sat with them in the living room and immediately discussed the boat problem. "I know Dad did purchase a custom-style yacht for himself, and he took it on its maiden voyage about several weeks ago. Problems soon developed on it, and he, Spade, and Diamond were forced to abandon ship just before it exploded. There was no evidence to use to figure out if someone deliberately did something to destroy the boat."   
Ace knew how much Mona cared for her father, even though "Black Jack" Malone would almost always come between them. "We think your father's boat, along with five others, was in fact sabotaged by someone. The others make up quite an odd list: Professor Surge and Sonny Boy, Beager Electronics CEO Jason Beager, model Zelda LeMond and singer Nesh Divine. The boat owned by Miles and Nadine Sawyers is the first one to remain intact. The problem is, we don't know who the saboteur or saboteurs are. We aren't sure if there's just one or more."   
"Speaking of saboteurs," Mona noted as she changed the subject, "I can't believe what Paparazzo did to Angie. That false exposé that jerk did on her has got to be the lowest thing he's ever done. Why did he do it for?"   
Cosmo quickly responded, "Simple. He's like getting his revenge for her pushing him into the bay yesterday. He said she was trying to grab all the attention for herself, but we know that's not true."   
"How's she doing right now?" she asked with slight worry.   
Ace put his arm around Mona's shoulder. "She's doing okay right now. Plus, people back in her hometown are helping working on a real exposé on her, one which will show what kind of person Angie really is."   
"Um, is this one going to be bad?"   
"Not as long as Carrie Jones has anything to say about it."   
"Who's she?"   
"According to Angie, the best television reporter in her hometown. Maybe even as we speak, she's probably out gathering some real information about her." 

In Mason City, Carrie worked ever so diligently on her exposé, the one where the _real_ Angie would be shown. "Okay, so far I've gotten to talk with her aunt Rita Wisland and her cousin Jeff Sullers by telephone, her best friend Ashley Brighton, and other residents who know what Angela Jacobs is really like."   
Using additional information gathered from old news tapes and the hospital, Carrie got much closer to completing her task at hand. She then started writing down notes on a sheet of paper. "'Born and raised in Mason City, Iowa, Angela Connie Jacobs has taken the pride of who we are here out west to Electro City, California.' Hmm, that seems like a good start so far. 'She was born at Mason City Hospital to Robert and Nancy Jacobs, who themselves were always looking out for their community. She carries that community spirit with her—' No, wait. I need to add that throughout the story, but I need to let the people I interviewed do most of the talking about her, including some of the things she actually does _not_ like. I just hope we don't make this worse, but Angie has placed trust in me to tell it straight, and I will, too."   
Going to the editing room, she started piecing together the people she had interviewed. "I need to get this done as fast as I can, so I can send a copy of it out to the Sensa-News Studio in Electro City. May this story clear Angie's reputation, because I know even some people here believe Duke Paparazzo's twisted tale."   
Throughout the city, residents were actually becoming divided on whether Paparazzo's story was true.   
Phone calls were going to every local TV and radio station as those who had known Angie and her family voiced their complete disgust with the exposé while others called in and said it was completely true.   
With time going against her, she knew she had to do this quickly. "If I don't get this finished, Angie's reputation…and possibly her whole life could be completely ruined."   
Working non-stop, Carrie made sure everything was put together with integrity and accuracy.   
In the span of three hours, she completely finished her report and allowed her producers to take a look at it to make sure there was nothing wrong with it.   
The head of the station himself was pleased. "Well done, Carrie. I'll contact Kelly Wilders and let him know we've got the story and maybe even do a collaboration effort."   
"Great," said a happy Carrie. "It's time to rescue Angie's reputation from that creep Paparazzo." 

Back in Electro City, Paparazzo himself, in disguise as a hobo, continued running for his life as the crowd against that exposé actually grew larger!   
_This has got to be a nightmare,_ he thought frantically. _I'm trying to get away from my own loyal viewers just because of an exposé? This is ridiculous! I'm the star reporter for Sensa-News! So what if my story on Angie was fake? It's supposed to get ratings, not cause riots!_   
A lady in the front of the crowd shouted, "Don't let him get away! He knows where that slime is hiding!"   
The reporter took that as an insult. _I am _not_ slime! How dare she say that garbage about me!_   
He had no time to stop and make a comment of his own because any attempt would cause him bodily harm. 

Inside the Magic Express, Ace, Cosmo, and Angie intently discussed the yacht sabotage mystery.   
"Okay, we know somebody is out to ruin the lives of all the individuals we talked with," Ace said with intense thought. "The questions are simple: Who's doing it, and is there more than one person involved?"   
Cosmo stated, "Man, there could be a thousand different answers to both questions, but the other question is why would someone do it in the first place?"   
"Who knows?" Angie said even though her mind was practically somewhere else. Petting Zina, she added, "Maybe this person or group of people were all hired by the boating company or something."   
Ace immediately noticed the tone of her voice. "Angie, something's wrong, and I don't have to read your mind to know it. Please, talk to us."   
She faced him sadly. "Ace, I know there are people supporting me through this exposé mess, but there are just as many people who probably believe Paparazzo's story, including people back in my hometown. I've never really had this happen before, and reacting to it has been a mix of shock and anger for me. I don't know what to think right now."   
Ace did his best to keep her comforted. "Angie," he started calmly, "listen to me. Something like this is not an easy thing to deal with, and you're right, even some people back in your hometown may actually believe the lie. What you need to know, though, is those who are closest to you know who you really are, a kindhearted person."   
"I'm going to tell you something right now. I'm not sure of what to do. One part of me is saying forgive him for what he did, and the other part is telling me to go after him and make sure he gets what he deserves."   
He could literally sense her fuming anger. "Angie, you said it yourself. You are _not_ a vengeful person. This isn't like you at all. Why does a part of you want to go after him?"   
"Because he is destroying not only me, but my family as well. It hurts so much…" Hot tears of anger began to fall. "It hurts so much. He decided to do a completely fake story on me mainly because he didn't have enough information, and I wouldn't be surprised if the people who have trusted me the most are now questioning my own integrity. If it were up to me, I'd burn Paparazzo at the stake."   
Cosmo could not believe what he heard from the young magician. "Whoa! Angie, what's wrong? You're sounding more and more like Paparazzo himself. He's tried to do that to us a number of times before."   
"Maybe it's time to show just how angry I really am, 'cause that's how I'm feeling right now. I want that jerk to pay for what he did to me!"   
Seeing the fury in her eyes, Ace had to step back. "Angie, a lot of people want him to accept the consequences of his actions and want to get back at him any way they can, but you're turning into one of them yourself now. You're letting your anger over this take control of you, and you shouldn't."   
"Why not? Because I'm the sugar-coated sweetheart magician everyone's made me out to be!?"   
"Angie, stop, please. We're only trying to help you out in dealing with your anger. I can feel the anger inside you right now, and I can understand why you feel this way towards Paparazzo. From first-hand experience, though, I can tell you that vengeance will do nothing more than blind you completely."   
"Oh, and just how do you know that? You're _not_ my mother or my father!"   
"No, but I _am_ your kindred brother. I do care about what is happening to you, but—"   
The Magician was soon interrupted by an appearance from the hologram of Angel. "Ace, you have a call from Miss LeSage at police headquarters."   
"Okay, I'll take it here."   
On the screen appeared Lt. Vega's secretary. "I have some useful information that may interest you, concerning a possible saboteur of those custom yachts. I went through the employment agency records and discovered that one person had been involved with all the individuals on the list."   
"Really?"   
"Yes. Her name is Helen Michaels. According to the list, she was fired from Beager Electronics for ruining more than 100 of the company's computer chips. She lost her job from Surge Laboratories for dropping a set of rather deadly vials in an open test area. Both the Croesus Palace and the Sunset Casino had her working as a waitress, but she was terminated from the two places for continually getting orders mixed up. As for Nesh Divine and Zelda LeMond, she worked under both of them when they did a music video together but then was dismissed for trying to hog the camera so much during the video shoot."   
"What about Mr. and Mrs. Sawyers?" asked Cosmo.   
"Well, she had worked at the main plant in Omaha, Nebraska, where her father, Carson Michaels, runs the company now. He is Sawyers's partner."   
"What happened?"   
"She kept reprogramming the computers and messed things up for all the workers. Her father and Mr. Sawyers agreed to give her the pink slip there as well. She now is employed by the Lehman Boat Manufacturing Company here in Electro City.   
"In addition, all seven custom boats were done there."   
Ace was satisfied with the results. "Thanks, Miss LeSage. It seems Helen Michaels is pretty good with computers and other mechanical knowledge. Now, um, just one last thing: Is there an address on Miss Michaels?"   
"Yes. Her address is 2318 Lake Drive, in a pretty bad part of town."   
"Okay, we'll check it out immediately." As soon as the screen went off, Ace turned to Cosmo. "Let's see if we can meet up with Helen Michaels."   
"I'm going, too," said Angie determinedly.   
Ace shook his head. "I'm sorry, Angie, but your anger is clouding your judgment at the moment. Until further notice, you're **_out_** of this mission."   
"But I—"   
"No buts, Angie. You need to get your mind and heart straightened out, and the only person who can do that is _you_." He then looked at Angel. "As soon as we leave, I want a total lockdown to assure Angie will not try to get out."   
"It shall be done as soon as you leave the garage," the AI responded calmly.   
Angie stared at Ace in total shock. "Wha—how could you do this to me? I'm a part of the team, too!"   
"Yes, but you need to cool yourself down first. It's no good going head-first into a dangerous situation if your mind and heart are not battle-ready. I wish I didn't have to be so drastic, but your anger could make our situation harder. There's no other choice. I'm sorry."   
She put her face down as her anger started fuming again.   
As Ace and Zina left for the garage, Cosmo looked at her and said, "You gonna be okay? I mean, maybe I can—"   
"No, Cosmo," she interrupted in a low tone. "He's right. My anger is taking control of me, and it won't help you guys right now. It's best I do stay here and cool down for now. It won't be easy, though."   
"Okay. Sorry we gotta do this."   
"It's all right. I need to find some way to channel my anger and get it under control. Go on, Ace needs you right now."   
After giving her a quick consoling hug, Cosmo took off to the garage to join Ace in the Magic Racer.   
As soon as the car left, Angel activated the total lockdown sequence.   
In the car, Cosmo was completely astonished with Ace's actions. "Dude, did you have to be so hard on her?"   
With a sad sigh, he answered, "I didn't want to do it, but I sensed her building anger. I don't want her to do something she would regret for the rest of her life. Some time to herself can be a benefit to her if she lets it."   
Angie went to her room and looked outside the window as the Racer disappeared into the tunnel. "Be careful, guys," she whispered to herself. "I'm sorry for blowing up at both of you. I wonder if I even deserve your friendship anymore."   
_Don't say that, Angie,_ Ace thought to her. _Even the best of friends have major arguments, but I just want you to be able to calm yourself down. I have my days where I can be angry, too, but I take some time to myself to cool off. You need it right now. I hope you're not upset about this._   
__ No, I'm not, Ace. You're right. My anger could cause problems. Just be careful.   
__ We will, kindred sister. We'll be back soon enough. If not, you'll know right away.   
__ Don't make me worry too much, please.   
_ Okay, sorry,_ he thought with a chuckle.   
Angie then stepped away from the window and started walking around the Express in hopes of clearing her mind and heart of the building rage. 

As for Paparazzo, he managed to find a hiding spot in a very dark alley as the angry mob passed by that area. "Whew," he said in relief, "I'm safe for now. Of course, the boss is still looking for me as well. I'm gonna have to stick to this forsaking disguise until this all blows over."   
He then realized how hungry he was getting. "How am I going to eat lunch? That lady's got my wallet, I can't get into my own home, and I can't buy anything. Now what am I going to do?"   
The reporter soon noticed a soup kitchen for homeless people. "I've got to eat right now, my stomach's growling!" He then ran into the shelter.   
When he came along, he noticed about 15 people ahead of him. "Excuse me," he said frantically, "I'm really hungry. Can I get to the front please?"   
The gentleman in front stared at him and angrily answered, "Look, pal. We're all hungry, but we have to wait our turn, so you can, too."   
The others in front moaned as well at the disguised reporter's request.   
_Maybe if I tell them who I am, I could get the meal on a whim,_ he thought.   
"I'm Duke Paparazzo from Sensa-News, and I demand a meal right now!"   
Everyone in the shelter laughed very hard at what he said.   
"_You?_ Duke Paparazzo?" the gentleman stated in laughter. "I'd kick him in the teeth if he showed up here, treating Angie the way he did with that story."   
"How do you know about the exposé? You don't have TVs here."   
"We don't need them," he said in a serious tone. "Don't you know the term 'word-of-mouth'? We learned it from others who were close enough to a TV. He's gotten himself into a lot of hot water, and he deserves to get tarred and feathered!"   
Paparazzo angrily thought, _As long as I'm the star reporter of Sensa-News, I will be treated with the _respect_ I deserve! I am not going to listen to these ridiculous comments._ He then ran out of the shelter to go somewhere else. 

In the Express, Angie tried to exercise her way to get rid of the anger inside her. Punching hard into the giant sandbag in the training room, she found some ease inside herself, but she still carried enough of the fury to keep her unhappy. "It's not enough. I don't know what to do."   
Noticing one small mat sitting by itself in a corner, she sat down and put herself into her meditating position.   
Closing her eyes, she calmly said, "Mom, Dad, I need some help. I'm filled with anger, and I can't get rid of it."   
_Within her mind, she saw herself in the living room of her family home with her parents._   
__ Her mother Nancy, sipping on a cup of tea, looked at her daughter. "Angie, Robert and I both know how angry you really are right now. What Paparazzo has done to you has made you this way, but as Ace said before, you're allowing it to cloud your thoughts and feelings."   
__ "I know. I mean, I'm upset Ace didn't let me come along, but maybe in a way, he did it to look out for me."   
__ Robert nodded in agreement. "That's right, honey. When someone really cares for another, family or friends, he wants to do what's best for you and maybe all of them, too. Ace could tell how angry you really were, so he forced you to stay away for the time being. He's doing it in the best interests of the team, but you most of all. He really does care about you and your situation."   
__ "I know. I'm trying so hard to cool down right now, but it's not working."   
_ "That's just it," said Nancy, holding her daughter's shoulder. "You're trying too hard. You just need to relax, focus, and center yourself. Think about your situation, about the things causing you to become angry with Paparazzo. Then, consider the types of consequences for your actions _if_ you attempted to get even with him. I think Ace really does know the consequences of seeking revenge first-hand."_   
__ "Inside your heart right now," said Robert, "is a demon of anger and hatred for Paparazzo. Anger is an emotion, and it's okay to be angry, but not to the degree where it takes control over you. That demon is controlling you right now, and you need to tell it to leave you alone."   
__ "I guess so, but there's another problem. I'm beginning to wonder if I really have become such a sugary nice person."   
__ "Since a lot of people don't know about you too much, only by your good deeds, they may have come to believe you're a totally nice person, period. They may think you're more than human. However, the ones closest to you know you are a human being, capable of sadness, anger, faults, and weaknesses. People need to know who you really are, a regular human being with emotions and weaknesses. In fact, there are a few things about you even Ace and Cosmo don't know yet."   
__ "True. If Carrie Jones has her way with this, she can help reveal to the people I am a human being. However, right now, I need to talk to that little demon in my heart."   
__ "We understand," Nancy said happily. "Just don't try so hard to cool down. You need to relax and let your body relax itself for you."   
__ The area around Angie soon disappeared, and she found herself journeying deep into her own heart to face her little demon.   
__ There, she noticed herself with a red face. "Hey, you all right?"   
__ "How can I be all right!?" she yelled. "Ace knows how angry you are at Paparazzo and has the stupidity to keep you away from the mission at hand! Some kindred brother he is!"   
__ "No," Angie said in holding her angry self's shoulders. "He resorted to this in order to protect all of us. If I were to go into battle not sound in mind and heart, I could do something I'll never forgive myself for. Besides, I've noticed that a lot of people have seen me as the 'all-around nice girl,' not capable of becoming angry or doing wrong. I mean, remember when I was five?"   
_ Her angry self looked at her and said, "Oh, yeah, when you took the _TV Guide_ by accident. Mom and Dad disciplined you but good."_   
__ "True, but they did it out of love for me. They didn't want to see me become a criminal, so they had to set me straight, and if it took scolding me, so be it. Ace had to lock me away in this circumstance. He knew the anger was building inside, and I realized immediately he did it to make sure I wouldn't become a liability to them, and especially to myself. Besides, there's a better way to get even without resorting to violence or bitter anger."   
__ "What is it?"   
__ "What's the worst thing for a reporter to have to do?"   
__ "Um, be humiliated?"   
__ "How about a public apology on live television?"   
__ The angry self smiled. "Ooh, how sweet. That's the perfect way to get revenge on him: Make him say he's sorry for what he did in front of the live audience and millions of viewers around the country."   
__ "Yeah, but I think it's also time I let the world know I'm a human being capable of anger just as much as the next person. I need to let them know I'm not the sugary sweet girl I've been made out to be."   
__ "I agree," the angry self said calmly. "Most people have only seen your good deeds. I have to be a part of you, too."   
__ "I know. I need to have an emotional balance, allow all emotions to be given light, and that includes anger. I mean, I am still mad at Paparazzo, but at least I know now what I can do without going to such extreme measures like that lynch mob is doing now."   
__ "Yeah. Think you've cooled down now?"   
__ "I feel calmer now, knowing I can have the emotional balance within myself."   
__ "And if you ever need to vent your anger," the calmer angry self stated, "I think you found one way by exercising. Another is to talk with your friends, too. I also understand now what warranted Ace's actions."   
__ "Time for me to get out of here and back to the real world. I think we understand each other a lot better now."   
__ "Yeah. Take care of yourself."   
__ "You, too." Angie then floated back up and left her inner self.   
She returned to the real world and opened her eyes. "Ah, I feel much better now. I'm much calmer again. I've been made into some sugar-sweetie, and I think I need to put a stop to it, if and when I get a chance."   
Just then, Angel appeared. "Angie, someone's at the door."   
"Really? Who?"   
"I don't know, but I can show you a quick visual." She made a holographic image appear in front of the young magician.   
"Hmm, he appears to be homeless, but I don't know for sure. Plus, Ace has put the place in lockdown mode right now, so even if I wanted to, I couldn't help him." 

Ace and Cosmo arrived at 2318 Lake Drive, the address given to them by Miss LeSage.   
"Hmm," said Ace cautiously, "it looks like an average home, but we'll just have to wait and see."   
Coming up to the door, Cosmo calmly activated the doorbell.   
Then, a woman of about 27 years of age, with blonde hair and blue eyes answered the door and was pleasantly surprised. "My goodness! Ace Cooper himself! What brings you here?"   
"We want to talk to you about seven different vessels owned by different individuals. You've heard about the case, right?"   
"Why, yes, I have. Please come in, make yourselves comfortable."   
The Magician and his longtime partner entered the cozy surroundings of this young woman. "I'm Helen…Helen Michaels. Let me get you both something to drink."   
Taking a seat in a comfortable recliner, Ace said, "Just water for both of us, thank you." He then went straight to the subject at hand. "We understand you had worked for all the individuals who had their boats sabotaged."   
"Oh," she said, becoming somewhat nervous. "Um, how do you know that?"   
"We've got our connections," answered Cosmo.   
"Plus," added Ace, "we know you were fired from all the jobs involving them, as well as the fact you work for the only boating company here in the city. Did you help put together the custom yachts?"   
"Um, yes, of course. I had them set to the specifications they wanted, just like I was told."   
"I see. We also know you're very knowledgeable about computers and mechanics."   
Becoming suspicious about their reasoning for seeing her, she took a small remote control out of her kitchen drawer. "Well, I did graduate from MIT with a degree in mechanical engineering." Putting the control in her pocket, she came out of the kitchen with the two glasses of water. "Here you go, gentlemen."   
Taking his glass, Ace soon started to ask some rather odd questions. "Why did you ruin more than 100 of Jason Beager's computer chips in his company?"   
"I didn't mean to do that," she said with a slight tremble. "I'm accident-prone, that's all."   
Cosmo took his shot at a question. "Were you accident-prone when you decided to mess up the video Nesh Divine and Zelda LeMond were both working on last year?"   
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said fearfully.   
"I think you're lying, Miss Michaels," Ace said in standing up. "You're the one who's sabotaging all those boats so you could get back at them, aren't you?"   
She quickly took the control from her pocket and pressed the button, which caused the recliner arms to grab Ace and trap him in the chair. As for Cosmo, four arms came up from the bottom of the sofa and pinned him to the floor.   
Helen then looked at the Magician angrily. "Yes, Mr. Snoopy Cooper. I did sabotage the boats for revenge against them all. They wouldn't accept my talents of mechanical engineering, so I decided to make certain they would suffer for firing me, and I intend to get back at my father, too! He and that idiot Sawyers fired me from the linen company because they didn't like my improvements for their machines! My own father! I thought he loved me, but I know he doesn't even care about me at all!"   
Struggling to free himself, Ace said, "Helen, revenge is not the answer. You have faults like most people, but you don't want to admit that you have made these mistakes to begin with."   
"Shut up, Cooper! I do not make mistakes. I'm better than all of those jokers and losers, anyhow, with the knowledge I have, I could take the city away from the mayor and those dufus crime bosses, as well as take over all the big league companies! I'll make this city all mine, and you and your dumb little friend aren't going to stop me." She then grabbed the glass of water. "I hope you like it, because I added some knockout drops to it!" She force-fed Ace with the water, which knocked him out almost instantly.   
"You creep!" Cosmo shouted.   
"Enjoy dreamland, big mouth!" She gave him his glass of water, which also had knockout drops.   
As soon as the two of them were knocked out cold, she programmed the recliner and the sofa to take her two new prisoners to the docks of the Grand Canal. 


	4. The Truth Shall Set You Free . . .

When Exposés Attack (The Conclusion!)

When Exposés Attack   
The Conclusion: "The Truth Shall Set You Free…"

Angie was unsure of what to do, since there was a hungry homeless man standing at the front door of the Magic Express, which was in lockdown mode after Ace had ordered her to stay home to calm herself from being angry earlier.   
"Angel," the young magician called out.   
The holographic dodecahedron appeared in front of her. "Yes, Angie?"   
"I know I'm still in lockdown here, but…I can't leave someone out there to starve. Is there any way you can just unlock the front door so I can at least tell?"   
"Why not use the intercom? It's next to the front door."   
"Okay, patch me through by intercom." After the connection was established, Angie spoke to him. "Excuse me, do you need something to eat?"   
"Yes, I do," the gentleman said in panting breath. "I haven't been able to get anything to eat in the last few hours, and I'm famished."   
Angie looked at Angel. "Um, what do you think?"   
"He appears to be truthful."   
"Angel, can you please unlock only the front door? I'll feel guilty if I don't at least give him a decent meal."   
Angel could understand Angie's integrity. "Very well. I will open the door for him to come in."   
"Thanks."   
She went to the door and waited for it to open.   
As soon as it did so, she saw the hungry man. "You _look_ famished," she said in concern. "Please come in. I should have something good you can eat."   
The homeless man, actually on-the-run reporter Duke Paparazzo in disguise, entered the Magic Express for only the second time. _Man, I remember how much trouble I caused the first time, but this is gonna take the cake. I'm going to be fed by the person I did the exposé on. This is soooo embarrassing._   
They went to the kitchen, where he took a seat at the table while Angie looked in the refrigerator to find the leftovers from the previous night's dinner.   
"Give me a couple of minutes to warm it up. It's steamed broccoli with chicken pasta. I cooked it last night, but it should be pretty good still."   
After a short time in the microwave, Angie gave the food to the hungry man. "There you go."   
He took a few bites and was surprised at how good it really was. "Mmm, this is delicious," he said happily. "Not even the Scorpio Club could serve this up."   
She looked at him very strangely. "The _Scorpio Club_? How could you afford to eat there?"   
"Oh, um, I mean, I saw an ad for the club on a TV set in a repair shop." _Good grief! I nearly gave myself away! If she ever knew it was me, she'd probably kill me with her magic._ He then noticed there was no one else. "Say, you here by yourself?"   
"For the time being, yes. I've been a bit angry, and I needed some time alone to cool myself down."   
_Great,_ he thought sarcastically, _tension really is building up between her and Cooper, and I don't have anything to tape the damn story with!! I'll never get the scoop of the century now!_   
"Ace was right to keep me out of the game. I let my anger for Duke Paparazzo cloud me completely. I was so blinded by the thought that all I wanted was revenge on him for doing that exposé on me. However, in a way, maybe the exposé has done a little good for me, too."   
_She thinks there was something good out of this?_ "What do you mean?"   
"The people who do not know me very well have perceived me as some sort of 'sugared sweetheart' magician, a girl who never gets angry or does wrong. It's like I've become _more_ than human in their eyes. Only thing is, I'm just as much a human being as the next person, and I have emotions like anger and sadness. Maybe…maybe I need to let the world know I really _am_ a human being."   
The disguised reporter was surprised. "So, most people think you're only a sweetheart, and you don't like that?"   
"No, I don't like it. Also, the building lynch mob going after Paparazzo now. They're blinded to get even with him because of what he did to me. I understand now that doing something like that will make them just as bad or even worse than him. I don't like what he did, but I don't want him to get hurt, either. He was trying to do his job, even though what he did was completely unethical. If he concentrated on the yacht situation instead of getting even with me, he'd probably have the best story of the year. Besides, I know how to get even with him without having to resort to violence."   
"Really? How?"   
"If I find him, all I want is a public apology in front of everyone."   
_The hell she'll get one from me,_ he thought. _No way I'm going to say I'm sorry for what I did._ "You think you can find him?"   
"I would like to find him before the lynch mob does first."   
He finally felt full from the meal he was given. "Thank you, Miss. That was very thoughtful of you to do this for me."   
"Last thing I want to see is somebody starve, especially someone who can't afford to eat a decent meal."   
He stood up and asked, "Um, could I stay here for now?"   
Angie sadly said, "I'm sorry, but if Ace discovered you here, he wouldn't be too pleased. No offense or anything."   
The gentleman smiled and said, "I understand, Miss. I hope things work out all right for you and your friend."   
"Thanks. I'll show you to the door."   
As he stepped out the door, he said, "I appreciate the meal, Miss. Thanks again."   
"You're welcome. Take care of yourself."   
The door closed, and Angie felt satisfied with what she did. "Well, another good deed done. I just wish people could understand just how human I am." 

Meanwhile, Ace and Cosmo had been captured by a mechanical genius who wanted revenge for being fired from jobs by various people. Helen Michaels was visited by the pair at her home, where they revealed the truth about her sabotaging yachts owned by some of the most prominent people in Electro City.   
She had used her know-how to entrap the pair in her specially built recliner and sofa and rendered them unconscious when she put knockout drops in their glasses of water.   
At least 30 minutes had passed since the Magician and his longtime partner became imprisoned.   
The two were finally awakened by the sound of foghorn from a nearby ship.   
"Wha—what happened?" asked Ace. "Where are we?"   
"Don't…don't know, dude," Cosmo groggily answered. "I thought we were at somebody's house."   
"You were, brat," said the angry voice of their captor, Helen Michaels. "You were at my house, trying to get me to confess to the sabotage of the yachts belonging to all those wealthy jerks. Okay, I admit, I decided to use my job at the boat company to get my revenge. I was soooo pleased when I got the chance to, um, help in putting the specially designed yachts together. Of course, my idea of helping was to make sure the brake lines were singed just enough to make sure slowing down would not be so simple. Also, I made sure the steering mechanism would fail as well.   
"Unfortunately, all the people survived their accidents, and that…other stupid magician decided to keep my father's partner's boat intact, which could easily lead the cops to the company, which then would trace back to me. I can't have them finding me with the evidence. That also means I can't let you two get out alive so you can spill me over to the police. Believe me, I have every intention of getting away with this, and neither of you can stop me!"   
Ace was unable to concentrate with his magic because the knockout drops were still affecting him. _This is serious. If we don't stop her right now, she could go after her own father next. Angie, for your sake and ours, I hope you've cooled off in time._ He then closed his eyes and did his best to reach out to his kindred sister. 

Back at the Magic Express, Angie enjoyed some television to get her mind off the exposé situation. "Nothing like an episode of Space Goofs to keep me laughing through this mess."   
She continued watching in content when she suddenly felt something powerful within herself. **_"Ahhhh!"_** she screamed while holding her head in confusion. "What's…going on?"   
_Kindred sister,_ Angie heard from Ace inside her heart, _we need you. Please help us._   
Closing her eyes, she concentrated to see where Ace and Cosmo were, she not knowing her light-blue aura luminated around her body. In a matter of seconds, she could "see" where her friends were in danger. "The Grand Canal…which old building, though?" She then noticed a large painted wolf's face on the inside of one building and was soon able to see Ace. "Wait…I know that place. Cosmo told me about it once. It was the headquarters of Sonny Boy's Company of Wolves group. That must be where they are!" Angie then called out, "Angel!"   
"Yes, Angie?" the computer noted in its holographic form.   
"This may be a bit much to ask, but I need you to lift the total lockdown. Ace and Cosmo are in trouble, and they need me right now."   
"Normally," the AI stated, "only Ace would have the authority to tell me to do so. However, I know you're telling the truth."   
"You do? How? For all purposes, I could be lying to you."   
"Yes, but your aura was glowing. If you were faking it, your aura would not have shone so brightly. I will lift the lockdown now."   
Angie smiled at the dodecahedron. "Thank you, Angel. I'll repay you for this, I promise."   
As soon as she reached the garage, she wasted no time changing into her proper attire. **_"Magic Force, reveal the power within!"_**   
Grabbing the helmet, she jumped onto the Magic Bike and quickly took off to rescue her friends.   
On the way, she contacted Vega to let him know what was happening. "I know you're busy trying to stop that Paparazzo lynch mob, but is there any way you can get some units out to the old warehouse where the old Company of Wolves used to meet?"   
In his car, Vega became curious about the situation. "I don't get it. What's going on?"   
"Ace and Cosmo found the saboteur, but they're prisoners in that warehouse right now. Can you get officers out there ASAP?"   
"I'll try, but I can't make any promises."   
"I understand. Right now I've got to reach the guys before it's too late for them."   
"Angie," Vega said sternly at first before becoming much calmer, "be careful." He then changed frequencies on his radio. "All available units not watching for the lynch mob need to get over to the old Company of Wolves warehouse on the Grand Canal. Possible trouble."   
In a matter of minutes, Angie arrived at the old warehouse and could immediately sense the Magician's presence. _Hang on, guys._ She then levitated herself up to an open window and floated in.   
Down below, Helen was completely determined to get her way. "All the changes I had in mind would be perfect, but those stupid idiots wanted tests and an approval process. Once you're out of the way, I'll get back at my father for firing me!"   
The female magician stood up and shouted, **_"Let them go, now!"_**   
Helen looked up and was completely surprised. "_You!_ I didn't think you would dare show your face in public after that exposé on you."   
"You think a phoney exposé was going to stop me from helping my friends? You'd better think again, loser!"   
Looking up, Ace noticed his kindred sister and smiled. _Welcome back, Angie._   
__ Thanks, Ace. I'm back, much calmer, and most definitely battle-ready now.   
Helen, though, did not listen to Angie's words. "Ha! You're the loser here. You're no match for my mechanical genius!" She then pressed a button which shot flames out towards the young magician.   
Ducking underneath in time, Angie thought to herself, _She's a tough one, but she's like what I was a couple of hours ago. I've got to take advantage of her thirst for revenge. A hologram should do the trick._ Closing her eyes to concentrate and focus her holographic image of herself, she was able to make one appear near a series of crates, about 45 feet away from where Helen was standing.   
"Hey, lady," said the holographic Angie. "I'm over here!"   
"Wha—How'd you get down here so fast!?"   
"Come and get me, loser!"   
"You will _not_ call me loser again!" Helen then ran after the hologram.   
Standing back up, the real Angie noticed the saboteur chasing the illusion. "Now's my chance to free them," she whispered.   
Making a total of four steel cards appear, she threw them in a crisscross manner, which caused the cards to cut the steel arms and claws to free Ace and Cosmo, who landed safely on the ground below.   
Angie made a long jump down to meet up with her friends. "You guys okay?"   
"Yeah," said a happy Cosmo. "We're just glad to see you a lot better."   
"So am I," added Ace. "You showed up just in time."   
Helen tried to grab the holographic Angie when she noticed her hand went right through it. "No…is it?"   
"Ha-ha-ha," said the hologram. "You've been tricked! Bye!" She then abruptly vanished without a trace.   
The mechanical wizard returned to the main area of action when she noticed the gentlemen free and all three friends together. "How dare you try to escape from me!" She then took another remote from her pocket. "Let's see if you can handle _this!_"   
As the ground shook from underneath them, a giant 15-foot robot emerged.   
Cosmo asked, "What the heck is _that_?"   
"This was supposed to be what I would be using in the Lehman Boat Manufacturing plant, and I could have easily become the CEO of the company with this machine. Now I'll use it to _kill_ all of you!" Pressing a few buttons, she yelled, "Get them all, my creation!"   
The robot quickly started approaching the threesome.   
Angie turned to Cosmo. "Got anything to jam the signal?"   
"I dunno." He then turned on his wristwatch radio. "Angel, can you scramble the signal between Helen's remote and the robot?"   
"I can try." She then sent a signal through the wristwatch to hopefully foul the controls.   
Helen, though, just laughed wickedly. "You think you're going to stop me with your funny little jamming signal? I have a special system in my remote which can jam the jammer! Face it, you're finished!"   
As the robot came closer to them, Angie thought, _Ace, we need to bring our powers together, but there's not enough time for you to get into your costume._   
__ Don't worry, Angie. With our psychic bond growing stronger, I won't need it this time. Give me your hands, quick.   
Clasping hands immediately, they could feel their hearts and minds coming together once more. **_"Magic Force, unite our powers!"_**   
As Ace's violet aura and Angie's light-blue aura illuminated brightly, their magical powers joined together and created a bright white light.   
"Angie, let's give this thing a power surge for the ages."   
"Sounds like a plan to me."   
Ace put out his right hand; Angie did the same with the opposite hand.   
"Ready?" asked the Magician.   
"You bet. Ready…set…**_fire!_**"   
From each hand came an incredible surge of electricity aimed directly at the heart of the robot.   
The robot was unable to handle the electrical overload and shorted out in a matter of seconds, causing it to fall to the ground and become completely useless.   
As their hands lost the glow, the two magicians smiled at each other.   
"Good work, Angie."   
"Thanks, Ace, I—"   
Helen suddenly grabbed Angie by the throat and viciously put her back against the wall. "You stupid little jerk! You destroyed my best creation! I'll _kill_ you, brat! Revenge will be mine!"   
Although she struggled for air, Angie looked at her and said, "You…think you'll get away with this?"   
"I _know_ I will get away with this! I will ruin my father for his firing me! I have what it takes to destroy him after he destroyed me!"   
"I'm not…so sure of that, Helen. I'm afraid you've made one very big mistake."   
"No, I am a _genius_! Geniuses _never_ make mistakes."   
"Oh, no? If you think…you're so smart, then why are you concentrating on my throat…instead of my _hands_?"   
Angie's face grew angry as she quickly threw her hands forward and used her powers not only to get Helen off her throat but also to make her fly a good 20 feet across the room.   
The genius landed hard on the ground, but as she tried to take off, Ace threw his cape around her and had her completely tied up as she fell to the floor again.   
As Angie coughed a little bit, Ace and Cosmo ran up to check on her.   
"You okay, Angie?" Cosmo asked.   
"Yeah…a little winded, but I'll live."   
"Man, that was a smooth move you did on her."   
"Well, she acted the way I did earlier, being blinded with a quest for revenge. I just took advantage of her critical mistake when she tried to strangle me instead of keeping me from using my magic."   
Ace smiled at her and said, "Smart call, Angie. You took control of yourself again."   
"Yeah, but I couldn't have done that if you hadn't done the lockdown on me earlier. I'm grateful you did, because I realized if I had come with you in my angry state, I could have easily have gotten us all killed."   
"Maybe, maybe not." Ace kneeled down to her and held her shoulders. "The important thing to remember is being angry is a normal emotion, but not when you allow it to take control of your life and blind your ability to judge right from wrong."   
"Yeah, and I almost let it, too. Thanks for stopping me the way you did."   
As the three got into a group hug, Captain Friedrichs and about 15 police officers showed up at the warehouse.   
"I didn't think we'd be back here again," he said, "not after what happened last time."   
Ace, Cosmo, and Angie all walked up with the tied up Helen Michaels.   
"Vega sent a number of units out here, but for what?"   
Angie came up and answered, "Captain, meet the saboteur of all the yachts, Helen Michaels."   
"She did it all by herself?"   
"That's right. Check with the employment agency, and they should tell you the people who fired her all match the intended victims of the yacht sabotage."   
"I see. I don't understand why she worked in the Lehman Company, though."   
"It's simple," Ace answered. "Since she could get to work on custom-built boats, it was the perfect excuse for her to get revenge on everybody."   
"Well, I guess that would be a reasonable MO for her."   
"You guess?" said a gentleman who walked up. "I knew my daughter didn't like me for firing her, but I never thought she would try this."   
Angie realized who the gentleman was. "Carson Michaels?"   
"Yes. I'm now the CEO of the Sawyers Linen Company. My retired partner's yacht—"   
"I know. That was the key to unlocking the case. I'm sorry it was your daughter who did all this."   
Mr. Michaels then stared angrily at Helen. "How could you do this to me? You graduated from MIT, yet you wanted to get even with everyone who terminated you."   
Ace then added, "She had _you_ as her next target."   
"Why?"   
"Because," begun the angry answer of his daughter, "you didn't want me to do anything without 'trial runs' or the 'approval process,' so I had to do this to make you listen to me."   
"Helen, if you were only patient, we would have given you the chance to field test your robot knowledge and then a trial run to see if it were effective to use. You can't force your way anywhere. That's why you lost all your jobs. You thought your mechanical genius would get you wherever you wanted, but now it's going to send you to jail."   
Friedrichs said, "Men, take Miss Michaels away and read her rights." As Helen was escorted to the police car, he then looked at Angie. "I'm surprised you came along, Miss Jacobs. I figured you wouldn't come out of the Magic Express because of—"   
"Do I have to explain this again?" Angie asked as she became annoyed. "I am not going to let an exposé done on me stop me from doing what matters the most. Can we please stop discussing this?"   
"Leave her alone, Friedrichs," Cosmo angrily said. "The truth's gonna come out about her, and you'll be surprised about it."   
Just then, someone's police radio was putting out this message: "The lynch mob has apparently changed targets. Instead of Paparazzo, they're after a homeless gentleman with straight black hair and blue eyes."   
Angie gasped in fear because she remembered that gentleman. "Oh, no."   
"What's wrong, Angie?" Ace asked in worry.   
"Ace, there's something I need to tell you. While you were away, a homeless man came to the Express. He was very hungry, and I couldn't leave him outside to starve to death, so I…"   
"Let me guess, this is the homeless gentleman, right?"   
Angie put her face down in shame. "Yes. I'm sorry, Ace."   
Holding her in a calm embrace, he said, "It's okay. If we were in different positions, I would have done the same thing."   
Just then, Angel spoke into the radio wristwatches of all three friends. "I have some important information for all of you. Angie, remember that homeless man you assisted?"   
"Yeah, why?"   
"Take a look at this." She projected an image of the homeless man and Paparazzo. "Do you notice the facial features?"   
Angie could not believe her eyes. "Oh, my God…the homeless man I helped was really _Duke Paparazzo_ in disguise! That mob doesn't know they're actually getting closer to Paparazzo than they think! I've got to do something!" She then ran off.   
"Wait," Ace yelled, "you shouldn't—"   
_Don't worry, Ace,_ she thought to him, _I know what to do this time. Just trust me._   
Using the psychic bond, he realized Angie was being truthful. _I do trust you, kindred sister. Make sure he doesn't get hurt too badly._

The homeless man had gotten closer to being caught by that mob when he ran into an alley. Unfortunately, that alley was nothing more than a dead end, and he soon found himself completely trapped. _Oh, no, there's no way out. I'm dead!_   
The lady leading the group started to approach him. "Okay, pal, you'd better tell us where Paparazzo is right now!"   
"I don't know where he is right now," he said in fear.   
"Then how did you get his wallet? You _do_ know where he's hiding, so tell us now, or we'll force it out of you! He'll pay for what he's done to Angie!"   
"I'm telling you, I don't know!"   
"Come on, everybody, let's get him, and then he'll tell the truth!"   
As the mob inched closer toward him, a voice from above shouted, **_"STOP!"_**   
The 300 or so people halted immediately and looked up at the top of the building.   
One of the gentlemen in the mob yelled, "It's Angie!"   
The female magician, still in her crimefighting costume, levitated down to just in front of the homeless man. "Please, don't do this."   
"But, he knows where that maniac Paparazzo is hiding! We're going to take him down!"   
"I've got news for all of you. You've already found him. Who has his wallet?"   
"I do," the woman answered. "Why?"   
"Take out his driver's license and look carefully at the facial features between the photo and this man here."   
The lady took out the license and did a close examination. "I don't believe it…he looks just like Paparazzo."   
Using her magic, Angie changed the homeless man's hair from straight black into the standard curled blond the reporter would always have. "That's because he _is_ Paparazzo."   
The entire group gasped in surprise.   
"He had to make the disguise when he realized you were all after him."   
"Well, at least now things are easier for us," said the lady angrily.   
"What do you mean? Do you intend on harming him?"   
"For what he did to you, you bet."   
Angie put her arms to the sides as she stood in front of Paparazzo. "No, please. Don't hurt him."   
One of the men was very surprised. "Why not? Don't you understand what he's done to you?"   
"Of course I do. However, I also understand trying to get revenge would have made just as bad or even worse than Paparazzo himself, and I almost did, too." Tears began to come from her eyes. "The problem is, a lot of people have thought of me as this…sugar-coated sweetie who never gets angry or does anything wrong…like I've become _more_ than human. The fact of the matter: I'm just as human as the next person, and I have a right to feel any emotion, including anger, sadness, everything. You've only seen all the good deeds I've done, not the _real_ me. Only those closest to me know who I really am."   
The lady understood the young magician's words. She turned to the crowd and said, "You know…Angie's _right_. I guess I thought of her as a 'perfect' person, and then when Paparazzo did that exposé, I wanted so badly to get back at him because he wanted desperately to make her imperfect."   
"Let's face facts," Angie said, "nobody's perfect. I know I'm not perfect, and I don't expect myself to be perfect. But, please, I beg all of you not to harm him. I mean, I'm angry about what he did to me, but he's a human being, too. Getting revenge for what he did will _not_ make you feel better. All it's going to do is blind your ability to tell what's right from what's wrong."   
"I should know about that," said a male voice behind the crowd. "When your blinded by vengeance, it leads to nothing but trouble."   
As the gentleman came forward and stood by Angie, he stood about 6'4" tall, with brown hair and brown eyes. "What Paparazzo did to this young woman was wrong, but I know you folks aren't the types who go out and form a lynch mob against him. It's like she just said, not too many people know who she really is."   
"Yeah," said one of the men in the mob. "I guess all we've seen is Angie's goodhearted side, not the real person she is."   
In the midst of the conversation, Paparazzo tried to slip away from the scene, but Angie's sensitive ears caught onto it immediately.   
"Hold it, Paparazzo," said Angie, using her magic to freeze him in place. After she turned him to face her, she angrily said, "Just because I saved your skin does _not_ get you off the hook from me. You almost destroyed my life because of what you did."   
"What…what…what do you want from me?" the reporter asked in fear.   
"All I want from you…is a public apology. I want you to completely recant your exposé and say you're sorry to me in front of everybody."   
Another gentleman yelled, "You're going to get your chance, Miss Jacobs."   
"Mr. Wilders?"   
He and Kendra Rayler came through the crowd.   
"Angie, I'm going to see to it you get your public apology as of tonight." He then looked at the crowd. "Everybody, you're all invited to the Sensa-News Studio, on me, for tonight's show."   
The crowd was pleased with the studio head's decision.   
"Oh, and Angie, Carrie Jones sent us the video disk of your real story, but we want you to see it first. Is that okay with you?"   
"Sure, but let's see it in the Magic Express."   
"You got it." He looked at the crowd one more time and said, "Everyone, go home and get ready for tonight. I promise, this is one you will not soon forget."   
The crowd quickly dispersed to prepare for an unforgettable evening.   
"Um," started a very nervous Paparazzo, "can I go home now?"   
Wilders looked at him and said, "Yes, Duke, you can…so you can gather up all the copies of your exposé. I noticed under Schoendorf you had at least 10 copies of exposés, so you can bring them all to the studio tonight. I'm going to your house personally to see you do that. Kendra, I want you to go with Angie to the Express and show her what we did."   
"Sure thing."   
The other gentleman then asked, "Um, Miss Jacobs, would you mind if I come, too?"   
"Well, I don't know…"   
"I'm an old friend of Ace's, really."   
"Oh, okay. I don't see why not." She then spoke into her wristwatch radio. "Ace, situation's under control. Meet me at the Magic. Real story's arrived, and a friend of yours is coming, too."   
"Great, Angie. See you at home."   
Before they left, though, Angie had one more thing to say to Paparazzo. She angrily said, "I'm going to warn you right now. If you ever try this on me, or anyone close to me, ever again, you can bet I will get you, and _only you_, with a libel and slander lawsuit so hard you won't be able to keep your job."   
"Ha, you don't even know what libel and slander mean."   
"Oh, really? I graduated from Iowa State University with a Bachelor's Degree in Liberal Arts, specializing in Mass Communications. One of the required courses was Media Law and Ethics. I _do_ know what they mean, since they're concurrent with each other. When used together, you're deliberately out to destroy someone's reputation by printing or broadcasting complete lies." After seeing him gulp in surprise, she added, "I can't wait for tonight."   
With that, she left the scene, satisfied she was able to prevent anyone from getting hurt in all the insanity. 

A half-an-hour later, Kendra, Angie, and the gentleman all returned to the Express safely.   
Ace was happy to see his kindred sister. "Angie, you did it. You were able to prevent the crowd from hurting Paparazzo before it was too late." He then noticed the gentleman. "I don't believe it…Gus?"   
"Hi, Ace. It's good to see you again, under more pleasant circumstances this time."   
The two gentlemen shook hands in happy greetings.   
"Hey, Gus, good to see you again," said Cosmo as he shook hands with the gentleman.   
"Wait…you all know each other?" asked a confused Angie.   
Ace smiled. "Yes, we do. Angie, this is my friend Gus Moreland. We were in Black Jack's gang in the past."   
"Oh, okay. I wasn't sure, but Mr. Moreland—"   
"Please, just call me Gus."   
"Anyway, Gus, how do you know so much about blind vengeance?"   
"It's a long story…"   
For the next hour, Ace, Gus, and Cosmo explained the details about the time in the gang, the time Gus was trapped in one of the security systems and left for dead, his coming back to life in the Cryogenic Center and causing all kinds of trouble in Electro City, all for seeking revenge on Ace for abandoning him during a job and Jack Malone for leaving him behind after the botched robbery attempt.   
"Wow," said Angie, "I can see why you know about revenge first-hand. I almost went down the same path."   
Kendra heard everything between the four, but since she did not carry a hidden microphone or bugging device, she agreed to keep everything off the record. "Now, want to see the story?"   
"You bet I do," said Angie excitedly.   
After 15 minutes of watching, Angie unquestionably liked what Carrie had done. "It's perfect. This will show people I'm human, too."   
"Great. We'll see you at the show tonight, then."   
"I'll be there. Thanks, Kendra." She then turned to Gus. "Um, Gus, do you have any dinner plans right now?"   
"Nah, I'm just ordering take-out."   
"Please, have chicken chow mein with us."   
"Take-out?"   
Ace shook his head. "Nope, Angie's cooking it."   
"She cooks?"   
"Yes. And, I need to warn you, Gus. The food she cooks is very addictive."   
After thinking it over for a moment, Gus decided to go for it. "Okay, Angie, you've got another dinner guest."   
All enjoyed the chicken chow mein before leaving for the studio. 

At 7 p.m. that evening, the seats were completely filled up at the Sensa-News Studio, and everybody was ready for an unforgettable evening.   
"Good evening, I'm Kendra Rayler, substituting for Duke Paparazzo, who tonight finds himself in a lot of hot water because of a phoney exposé he did on one of Electro City's most well-known citizens. Angela Jacobs has done so much for this city since she got here two-and-a-half years ago, but a lot of us _don't_ really know who she is. We've seen all her good deeds she has done with Ace Cooper, the Magician, but that's it. Tonight, we're finally going to show you the _real_ Angela Jacobs, and we'd like to start with this story done by KMCO reporter Carrie Jones."   
As the video disk began, Carrie spoke. "Angela Connie Jacobs was born to Robert and Nancy Jacobs in Mason City Hospital in Mason City, Iowa. From the beginning, most people had known her parents as those who helped the community. However, they did have one run-in with the law. When Angie was just three, her parents joined in a protest of a factory that continually produced polluting chemicals and found themselves behind bars for about three hours. From that point on, Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs were determined to do things for others, no matter what it took and by all legal means. As for little Angie herself, she was only five years old when her parents caught her with a _TV Guide_ without paying for it. It was a moment which set her straight for life."   
Then, Angie's best friend Ashley Brighton appeared. "I've been a friend of Angie's since the first grade, and believe me, she's the best friend I've ever had in my life. I come from a very wealthy family, but Angie taught me to feel rich inside my heart, not with money this, money that. Now, there are some things not a lot of people know about her. For instance, _do not_ try to make her eat watermelon. Angie totally hates watermelons. I know when we went to a watermelon festival, she tried one and didn't like it at all. She said the taste was too weird, so she's never eaten one ever since. She also can't stand complete silence because of her sensitive hearing. I can understand that because Mason City is in Tornado Alley, and sometimes complete silence leads to a dangerous tornado.   
"I was also the first person she called when her parents…were killed in a terrible automobile accident. Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs were innocent victims of a road-rage incident by two other drivers. She was feeling all alone, but I wanted to be there with her every day. She had a lot of grief and pain, and we did get into disagreements on some days, but I was grateful to be with her at this hard time. I remember, when we both graduated as co-valedictorians at Wrigley High School, in a part of her speech, she simply said, 'Believe in yourself, for anything will always be possible when you do.' I've never forgotten that speech, Angie, and I never will."   
Later on, her older cousin Jeff Sullers talked about Angie truthfully. "Angie's a character. She always liked to have fun with her parents and other family members. She's really picked up her mother's cooking ability so well. However, we had an awful discovery one day. She tried to eat some fruit salad but soon suffered a severe reaction. Aunt Nancy got her to the hospital in time, and we soon learned she was severely allergic to almonds. It's eating almonds that causes the reaction, not the smell. That's one of the odd things. I've heard people be allergic to both the smell and taste, but in her case, it's a little different. Amazingly, I know she stepped on a bee right on the stinger when she was seven, and boy did it hurt her badly. She also had a wasp land on her right finger, and she unknowingly squeezed that stinger right into her finger. It's incredible to know she didn't have an allergic reaction to those, but bad luck can be with her on some days. Fortunately, bad luck didn't stop her from doing well at Iowa State, since she won that scholarship because of her high grades. Angie, you're still the coolest cousin, magician or not."   
Finally, her aunt Rita Wisland had her chance to speak. "When I learned Angie was living in Electro City with Ace Cooper, I was very angry at the time because I thought she had to be here with me to be safe. I tried to take her away from her new home, and needless to say, she was very livid about that. She cared very much about her friends, but I was unable to let go of the guilt I had from the death of my son Eric. She managed to save my life, and well, she really knew what she was doing. I realized she had already grown up, but I couldn't see it before. After what she did, we became a lot closer. She came to my rescue again when she learned of my bad relationship with Craig Rutherford here in Des Moines. I'm grateful to her for what she's done for me, and I know her parents are proud of her. Angie's never been a person who would turn her back on anybody who needed help, but people need to understand she's not perfect, either."   
Kendra then picked up from there. "We in the media have to be blamed partially for what's happened as well. We have portrayed her as a sweetheart who can seemingly do no wrong, which has resulted in a lot of people believing she may be somewhat _more_ than human. Angela Jacobs may be a magician fighting alongside Ace Cooper, but in the last day or two we have come to understand she's just as much a human being as the rest of us."   
She then sat down next to Angie. "Angie, what have you yourself been able to learn through all this madness?"   
"Well, I've learned it's okay to be angry about things, but not to the degree where it takes control of me instead of me controlling it. I, too, actually considered going for revenge against Paparazzo, but if it weren't for Ace, I would have done something regrettable. He had to keep me out for a little while because I allowed the anger to blind me completely. I mean, it's normal for friends to have arguments, but that doesn't always mean there's serious dissension between Cosmo, Ace, and myself. I _am_ human, and I have made mistakes before, but I can learn from them and become better, just never perfect. I don't want to be perfect, and I feel better when I have friends I can talk about my problems with."   
"In addition to that, while all this madness was going on, you and your friends were able to crack the case concerning the sabotaged yachts."   
"Yes, we did. Vega can explain the details at his press conference in the morning."   
"Now, I believe Duke Paparazzo is here, and so is our studio head, Kelly Wilders."   
As the two came out, the crowd booed the unethical reporter for what he did.   
Wilders made Paparazzo sit next to Angie with the 12 found copies of the video disk containing the false story. He then took the copies and handed them to Angie. "Miss Jacobs, you can do whatever you wish to all of them."   
"Thank you, Mr. Wilders." She soon stood up and concentrated with her powers, squeezing all the disks together and emerging as 12 fireballs. "Now, to make them all disappear forever." She then threw all the fireballs into the air, which soon dissolved into nothingness. She took a bough as the audience applauded her impromptu performance.   
After taking her seat once more, Wilders looked at Paparazzo. "I think you owe her something, Duke."   
The star reporter groaned and looked at her. "Angie…I'm sorry for doing that false exposé on you. I realize how much trouble I had actually caused. I'll make sure I don't do that ever again."   
"That's good, Duke," started Wilders in a rather sarcastic tone, "because as of now, you're _no longer_ the star reporter of Sensa-News."   
**_"WHAT!?"_** he shouted.   
"You heard me. You went too far this time, and you are officially stripped of star reporter status. Kendra Rayler is now the star reporter for this network, and I know she'll do a good job."   
Kendra was completely surprised by this turn of events. "I promise, Mr. Wilders, I'll do my best to make sure we report the truth and only the truth."   
"Good. As for you, Duke, be ready to do the health department restaurant scores for the next year, because that's _all_ you'll be doing."   
Paparazzo could not believe what had happened. "But, I know there's serious tension between—"   
"Don't even start, Duke. Now, get out of here, go home, and think about everything you've done in the last couple of days."   
The reporter stormed out of the studio in anger. "I don't believe it! That story cost me my star status! I'm never doing exposés ever again!" 

A short time after the show had ended, Angie and her friends sat at the sofa on the set with glasses of sparkling grape juice.   
She stood up and said, "Everybody, I want to thank you for being with me in all this lunacy. I've been able to learn about myself in the last couple of days, and I couldn't have done that without any of you."   
Clanging glasses together, she, Kendra, Gus, Cosmo, Wilders, and **Ace Cooper, the Magician,** celebrated their team victory of truth over deceit.   


  


THE END   


  


Throughout the course of this story, I myself have learned some of the mistakes concerning the development of my character Angela Jacobs. I learned I didn't make her as human as she should be, but I also understand development takes time. Angie herself has trusted me to begin this effort to make her more human but not _more than_ human. I thank those friends who showed me what I had been doing wrong. J 

Return to Angie's Area 


End file.
